Dartmouth College, Whittemore Hall, Tuck School of Business

Hanover, New Hampshire

Firm

Goody Clancy and Associates

Client

Dartmouth College

Area

49,000 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$11,500,000

Completion Date

12/2001

The new 60-bed residence hall houses students in the school’s MBA program and visiting executives in short-term training programs. The building contains a central great hall, meeting and conference rooms, a student lounge with pool hall, exercise room and distance-learning rooms for remote conferencing with other institutions.
The site, which was at the rear of two adjacent buildings on the edge of a steep ravine, was a major design challenge. The solution was to create a new plaza deck to straddle the ravine and screen the loading dock area.
The new courtyard area also brought new life to the existing buildings on the site. It transformed the back side space into a new front face for the school. The building’s exterior has patinated copper and brick in the tradition of the older buildings at Dartmouth.
A stair was built to connect the new courtyard with an existing courtyard above. The four-story Whittemore Hall, which steps down the hill and connects with the adjacent buildings at several levels, facilitates pedestrian access.
Officials wanted Whittemore to be a favorite gathering place for students that would become the “heart” of the business school. The building’s great hall, or living room, functions like a hotel lobby. The hall’s hotel-like amenities—two-story fireplace, cherry wood paneling and Craftsman-style furniture—were designed to appeal to older MBA students and executives.

“Unique integration of social needs and academics.”–2002 Jury