Kroon Hall

Though set slightly further back from Prospect Street than other neighboring buildings, Kroon Hall catches the eye of every passerbys with its exquisite combination of a modernist barn structure displayed from the front and back, to its sided stone cladding that harkens to the collegiate gothic style prevalent on Yale’s campus. The symmetrical cross section roofing forms into a rounded muscular framing of the building which is bookended by abstract wooden sunscreens that serve to intriguingly mask the glassy entrances. Within the long narrow building, one is drawn upwards by a linear central staircase which leads into open space of the top level, where the auditorium and library reside. It is here, in this warm and communal space, where the students and faculty of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies engage in work or discussion, which may later continue in the classrooms and offices located on the lower levels. The aesthetic appeal of Kroon Hall is matched by its mission for sustainability. It stands as the most ecologically responsible building on Yale’s campus, and obtained Platinum Rating under the LEED certification system.

Pierson Sage Boiler and Refrigeration Plant

Prior to Kroon Hall’s construction, this site belonged to the old Pierson-Sage Boiler and Refrigeration Plant. Before a newer, more centrally located campus plant could produce lines to bring up to Science Hill, the Pierson-Sage Plant served this part of the campus, starting in the early twentieth century. Once it was no longer needed, it was torn down to make way for the building of Kroon. An even longer look back into the history of this site takes one back to the 1890s. Before it became developed land, 195 Prospect was part of the “Sachem Wood”. During the 1890s, when factories were popping up around the area, especially in Winchester, adults would send their kids up to play in Sachem Wood, in order to get them out of the congested cityscape and into a more natural and open space.

Given that Kroon Hall was built less than a decade ago, since its construction, Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies has remained the sole owner of this building which has come to serve as a symbol of this graduate program’s mission to study and make positive impacts on the degradation that our environment is currently facing. The building of this hall was made possible by the generous collaboration of many people whose names are carved into one of the interior walls which can be seen as soon as you walk through the entrance facing Science Hill. This building has become a central location for the graduate students and faculty in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. It is where classes are often held, groups come together to discuss projects, students meet with professors, undergraduates and graduates alike come to the nave to study, and important events within the program take place here. What makes this building so important in the context of architectural history, is it’s representation of what we are capable of achieving in the future. It has received numerous awards and accolades for its attention to sustainable design, and as the greenest building on Yale’s campus, it is a strong example of what direction the future of architecture should be heading in.

Nestled in a small plot of land up Prospect Street, Kroon Hall is set between two existing science buildings, The Osborn Memorial Laboratories and The Sloane Physics Laboratory. Sage Bowers Hall. It is surrounded by three exterior courtyards, which vary in size, level, and purpose. There is a small public entry courtyard facing west. To the north, there exists a medium-size private court which is shared with Sage-Bowers, Forestry and Environmental Studies’ homebase building. Finally, the semi public, large courtyard on the south, belongs to both Kroon Hall and the Osborn Laboratories. “The LEED Platinum building provides bright modern company for an Eero Saarinen building across the street in a neighborhood awash in dark, neo-Gothic edifices.”

The long and narrow rectangular structure of this young building is formed east to west on Prospect Street in order to minimize heat gain and maximize exposure to light and solar gain. The gable-like curved roofing is covered in solar photovoltaic panels that help contribute to the renewable energy sources provided in the structure, and the exterior sides are made up of Ohio sandstone, a familiar symbol of Yale’s architectural beauty. It’s interior lodge aesthetic is created from the Red Oak Wood paneling (from Yale’s Tourney forest) that defines the most picturesque study space found at the top level of the building. It feels modern and fresh, while retaining a stylistic mixture of a “cathedral nave and Connecticut barn”. The top floor uses the warmth of daylight coming in through the massive glass windows, and the tongue-and-groove vertical and horizontal red oak paneling to create a warm and airy ambiance, which feels both communal and peacefully quiet all at once. As one descends the central staircase to the lower floors lined with classrooms and offices, the presence of large swaths of exposed interior concrete create a nice contrast to the continued presence of red oak at every level. Perhaps the most striking characteristic of this building is found at both entrances. In front of the glassy facade, the fir louvres are laid out as a kind of mask for the building which makes Kroon Hall all the more enticing for the curious pedestrian who wishes to see what exists inside.

http://www.hardwoodinfo.com/specifying-professionals/case-studies/yale-kroon-hall-red-oak/

http://environment.yale.edu/kroon/design.php

http://environment.yale.edu/kroon/img/Kroon-Plans.pdf

https://news.yale.edu/2010/02/01/kroon-hall-achieves-leed-platinum-certification

https://www.archdaily.com/97216/kroon-hall-yale-university-centerbrook-architects-and-planners-and-hopkins-architects

Yale University Bookstore - An Architectural Tour by Patrick L. Pinnell