Pfeiffer’s renovation of Galileo Hall created a renewed and versatile space for academic studies that elegantly integrates into the campus’ midcentury modern architecture, originally the work of Edward Durrell Stone. The work began with an in-depth programming analysis that included Galileo, Jacobs/Keck and the future Olin South Annex, an academic building, and detailed how their functions and uses relate to one another. This analysis and programming effort involved working closely with all the Harvey Mudd constituents, including faculty, students and staff, to develop the overall programming and conceptual plan.

The project creates a new lobby and a state-of-the-art, 600-seat lecture hall, which is divisible into three rooms to accommodate a variety of academic needs and events. Both faculty and students concerns were taken into account during programming to allow for different teaching pedagogies as well as student needs related to power for laptops which resulted in the installation of whiteboards, blackboards and a full AV system to accommodate different teaching styles and every student seat has built in power for recharging their everchanging mobile technologies. In addition to structural and MEP upgrades and a new AV/IT system, the finished building is ADA compliant. The Libra Deck landscape, waterproofing and topping were redone to further satisfy campus needs for event space.

Project Data

Complete
16,360 sf

Program & Highlights

600-seat divisible lecture hall
Event lobby
Libra Deck outdoor event space

Collaborators

General Contractor: McCarthy Construction
Civil Engineer: SB&O Inc.
Structural Engineer: Saiful Bouquet
Acoustics/AV: Waveguide
Lighting: Kaplam Gehring McCarroll & Davison Associates
Photographer: Steve Lerum