Sasaki Associates, Inc.

The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship

The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship

Sasaki

The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann

ARCHITECTS
Sasaki

LEAD TEAM
Vinicius Gorgati, Marta Guerra-pastrián

CIVIL CONSULTANTS
Tighe & Bond Inc.

LIGHTING CONSULTANTS
Lam Partners

STRUCTURAL CONSULTANTS
Rse

DESIGN TEAM
Michael Frechette, Alexandra Garcia Torres, Sean Levesque, Amanda Lennon, Andrew Gutterman, Binbin Ma, Radhika Mahan, Rob Sugar, Tamar Warburg

MECHANICAL CONSULTANTS
Br+a Consulting Engineers Inc.

ENGINEERING & CONSULTING
Haley & Aldrich, Studio Nyl

ACOUSTIC CONSULTANTS
Acentech

AREA
24000 Ft²

YEAR
2024

LOCATION
Washington, United States

CATEGORY
Educational Architecture

The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann

Text description provided by architect.

The new Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship at the Frederick Gunn School unites a range of learning environments together in one integrated building.

The school was founded in 1850 by Frederick William Gunn, who was an educator, abolitionist, and advocate for the outdoors, and responsible for innovations in curriculum and student development.

The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann

The new building honors his vision, replaces an outdated brutalist science building, and brings a contemporary expression to campus while maintaining the scale and integrity of its surrounding context.

The design concept reinterprets the local typology of a contemporary farmhouse. Three pavilions shape the massing and organize the program into three zones.

This approach reduces its perceived scale in relation to neighboring historic buildings.

The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann

Materiality is inspired by the wooded and rocky nature of the site and the vernacular architecture of the campus and region, focusing on a simple palette, uniformity of colors, and treated materials.

Sasaki also designed the building's landscape, which creates new circulation paths from the campus' two primary open spaces.

The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann

The footprint of the building was designed to preserve adjacent rock outcrops and mature trees, and interior seating and custom tables creatively use reclaimed campus oak trees.

The building's program transitions from purpose-built spaces, such as physics, biology, and chemistry labs, to flexible spaces like shared flex classrooms, the Entrepreneurship Center, and the Center for Just Democracy.

The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann

The design minimizes environmental impacts with solar photovoltaic panels providing sustainable energy and a geothermal well field providing the majority of the heating and cooling. Combined with a highly efficient envelope, these contribute to bringing the project close to Net Zero.

Affectionately called "The Lizzie," the Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship has become a hub for the campus community. Its open and flexible learning environments allow students and faculty to turn ideas into action.

The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann



The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
© Jeremy Bittermann


The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
Diagram
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
Diagram


The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
Plan - 1st Floor
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
Plan - 2nd Floor
The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship
Section

Sasaki Associates, Inc.
T +1 617 9263300 F +1 617 9242748
Sasaki Associates, Inc.
110 Chauncy St Suite 200, Boston, MA 02111, United States