Kean University, Liberty Hall Academic Center

Union, New Jersey

Firm

NK Architects

Client

Kean University

Area

10,500 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$3,200,000

Completion Date

09/2019

NK Architects/Billy Economou

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Liberty Hall Academic Center at Kean University is a contemporary environment in which to teach, study and celebrate history near its namesake, Liberty Hall Museum.

Architecturally, the academic center adopts the gabled forms of farmhouses and barns and employs rustic materials such as stone, wood and metal roofing that are sympathetic to their context. Even contemporary materials like the channel glass and fiber-reinforced cement siding evoke the scale and verticality of traditional board-and-batten construction.

Inside, the exhibition hall and gallery can be closed off from the reception and pre-function areas with sliding steel partitions that resemble barn doors with richly patinated surfaces. The polished concrete floor and exposed ceilings also evoke more functional precedents. An exposed wood-and-metal stair evokes the functionality of working farm buildings, yet is designed with a contemporary level of craft and detailing.

Throughout, Liberty Hall Academic Center focuses views back to the existing museum and its grounds, enabling people to experience history by connecting them to a secluded, preserved, rural oasis within highly developed Union County.