Lawrence University, a small private college on the recently revitalized Fox River in a town rich with history, wanted to create a place for students to experience its vibrant college community that embraced its natural surrounds. By breaking down the building's large scale into sections connected by a glass-enclosed Great Hall, the design team created a village in which students can engage the university's community, circulating both horizontally and vertically on its interior "streets" to find places to eat, study, and relax with friends.

Unlike other campus buildings, which turned their backs to the Fox River, the campus center embraces Appleton's history as the heart of the paper-making industry by facing the river. Situated on a hill, the building literally emerges from the ground. Its materials embody growth, starting with poured concrete finishes at the foundation and lower levels, locally quarried limestone wall panels at mid-level floors, and finally to soaring glass panels to symbolize the sky. An illuminated stair tower at the campus center's northwest corner beckons students, returning alumni, and the town of Appleton to a place of community and pride.

Join Lawrence University students as they tour Warch Campus Center: