Education
Worrell Professional Center for Law and Management, Wake Forest University
+ expand detailWinston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
185,000 square feet / 17,000 square meters
1993
The Worrell Professional Center for Law and Management combines two graduate schools in the largest single building on the Wake Forest University campus. The building is divided equally between the School of Law and the Babcock School of Management. A 5,100-square-meter (55,000-square-foot) library is shared by the two schools, as along with lounges, classrooms, a technical center and administrative offices. This is the first time that a law school and a business school have been joined in a single building in the United States.
Each school maintains a separate entrance to emphasize its equal but distinct identity. At the center of the building, a four-story flat-roofed rotunda with clerestory lighting marks the library. Two parallel three-story classroom wings emerge from the rotunda. The law school crossmember is perpendicular to this wing while the business school crossmember is slightly skewed. The two crossmembers narrow the entry to the landscaped courtyard, reducing the scale and creating a place for two single-story entry pavilions. To distinguish the two schools, the pavilions differ in their colors of brick and the shape of their roofs. The pavilions also mark the entry to the 1.4-hectare (3.5-acre) courtyard, an informal gathering space as well as a location for ceremonial events. An arcade at the perimeter of the courtyard defines the space and gives access to the inside of the building.
The Worrell Professional Center is constructed of materials sympathetic with the architectural tradition of the Wake Forest campus: Old Virginia brick, sandstone, limestone and copper. However, the articulation and detailing are modern, expressive of the building’s steel frame structure and masonry veneer wall construction.
The library is the centerpiece of Worrell’s shared facilities. A central reading room organizes its four floors of seating and collection space. Study and training areas, including two large computer areas, are adjacent to the library. The rear wall of the library can be removed for future expansion.
