West Haven, CT

Transformation of a former parking lot into a signature campus destination integrated into the surrounding campus landscape with outdoor plaza spaces framing the new building for innovation.

At the heart of the University of New Haven campus, the Bergami Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation and associated site invites students from all majors to collaborate in the new classrooms, studios, maker spaces, and more. This transformation of a former parking lot into a signature campus building and destination, with flexible outdoor plaza spaces, is adjacent to the prominent Maxcy Quad and expands the opportunities available for students to foster creative collaboration both inside and outside the building. The efforts of this project resulted in the university’s third LEED Gold certification at the time, further enhancing the university’s dedication to sustainability and innovation.

Outdoor maker terraces and other plaza spaces integrate the Bergami Center into the surrounding campus landscape, including Bartels Hall, Buckman Hall, and Maxcy Quad. The site design accommodates a significant new utility structure with decorative screening, reconfigured parking, new connections to nearby Kaplan and Dodds Halls, a new loop road to maintain critical service and emergency access routes, and critical accessibility compliance updates. An outdoor terrace adjacent to the maker space provides a valuable gathering space to complement the interior building use. Rain gardens take advantage of the topography to provide stormwater detention along the circulation paths with native and pollinator-friendly plant species.