Center for Conservation and Preservation, Yale University

Yale University’s Center for Conservation and Preservation provides a large, open, flexible space for conservation of works on paper, textiles, and objects (including ethnographic collections) as well as an array of specialized rooms for photography/x-radiography, spray, structural work, and photograph analysis.

The Center allows conservators from distinct institutions (the Yale University Art Gallery, the Yale Center for British Art, the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, and Yale University Library) to share resources and build collaborative alliances.

The portion of the existing building that was designated for the project had no fenestration, so we threaded twelve skylights amongst the open-web joists and borrowed light from across the adjacent hallway. The perimeter windows provide visitors and staff from other University departments with framed views of conservators at work as well as providing conservators with a view to the garden courtyard beyond the hallway.

Client: Yale University
Design Team: Edward Gormley, Sean Khorsandi, R. G. Vanderweil
Builder: Giordano Construction
Photographer: Amy Barkow