The Hun School of Princeton, Heart of Hun

Princeton, New Jersey

Firm

Saphire + Albarran Architecture LLC

Client

The Hun School of Princeton Board of Trustees

Area

42,000 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$1,240,000

Completion Date

08/2004

The Heart of Hun tries to provide a sense of place and a feeling of arrival to the high school building. The design challenge included relating this high school building to a campus that had grown around it. Residence halls across the street and a middle school building adjacent to the high school created an environment of disconnected parts related only by the concrete walkways linking side door to side door.
The final design created a colonnade of classical columns in a double row supporting a covered walkway. Reference for this design comes from the Russell Mansion across the street, which was the first building used by The Hun School of Princeton. The new main entrance penetrates this arcade with a subtle bow in a cast-stone fascia and a change in the rigid spacing of the stone columns. This new arcade provides a covered entrance walk for buses and cars along a new loop roadway that takes this activity off the main road. The colonnade also extends beyond the building facade on both sides, creating a visual tie to the middle school building, the new outdoor gathering areas and the residence hall entrances from the main campus.
The new entry lobby provides indoor student gathering areas, an administrative reception area and offices, public restrooms and a large gathering area used by the school theater, situated adjacent to this new project. Natural slate, cast stone, cherry veneer woodwork and expansive areas of glass create an open and inviting feeling of quality and permanence.