Meredith Hall Renovation

A comprehensive renovation restores Mies van der Rohe's 1963 Modernist landmark at Drake University to its original architectural clarity while creating a student-centered home for Journalism and Mass Communication

Information

Meredith Hall at Drake University is a historically significant building designed in 1963 by renowned modernist architect Mies Van Der Rohe and is home to the department of Journalism and Mass Communication. The renovation project improved the accessibility, teaching, learning, office, and collaboration environments; completely removed and replaced all mechanical, electrical, technology, and lighting systems; and respectfully reinterpreted the landscape for an internal courtyard. All of this work was carefully and thoughtfully detailed and reconstructed within the National Trust for Historic Preservation Standards administered by the Iowa State Historic Preservation Office. Drake University desired to bring new life to this historic modern structure to create a more student-centered environment – improving the health and well-being of students, creating a more energy efficient, comfortable setting, and extending the life of this important building as part of the campus community.

Process

The renovation of the building began with the understanding that the 1965 Mies van der Rohe building already held the ideas the University needed. The work focused on recovering and extending those ideas, rather than replacing them. Originally home to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the 60,751 SF building had been affected by decades of deferred maintenance, ad-hoc mechanical additions, and a courtyard grove that had declined over time. The renovation restored the building’s original architectural logic, including the masonry module, the courtyard as a living extension of university’s central grove of trees, and the disciplined ceiling grid, while bringing the building into alignment with a 21st-century academic program, code requirements, and accessibility standards.