Brown University Churchill House and Rites and Reason Theatre

Seat of the Department of Africana Studies at Brown University for nearly 50 years, Churchill House and the Rites and Reason Theatre have a rich history, making the spaces integral to the university as a hub for education centered around the African diaspora.

This project, in partnership with Mario Gooden Studio, provides expanded space for departmental programming and events, including a renovated theater and production spaces, faculty, and community event spaces for Brown University’s Department of Africana Studies.

 

Visually connected to the street, the addition provides transparency and connectedness to the surrounding campus, celebrating and conveying the important academic and performance-based work transpiring within. The reoriented building entry with a new terrace and ramp is located along the Walk, a vibrant campus green space frequented by students and local community members. Enhancing the visibility of the department on campus, and improving accessibility from the street, this renovation and addition supports Brown University as it works toward goals of diversity and inclusion, sustainability and wellness, and community.

 

The design highlights the relationship between the Department of Africana Studies and the Rites and Reason Theater. Throughout the building, the department’s shared wall with the theater features a pattern mirroring that on the facade of the addition, forging connections between the building’s interior and exterior, and highlighting the presence of the theater within the Department.

 

Along the lobby’s southern wall, the entrance to the theater is framed with a custom perforated panel with an intricate fractal pattern. The fractal, a geometric pattern with inlaid shapes that grow and shrink in scale, references patterns used in West African cultural artifacts such as textiles and architecture. This fractal pattern is recalled throughout the department and is used in the supergraphics on select feature walls on each level of the building.

Location

Providence, RI

Client

Brown University

Completion

2023

MFA Design Team

Karen Fairbanks, Scott Marble, Tanya Gershon, Jason Roberts, Diego Arango, Elliot Park, Kristy Cho, Brian Castro

Design Consultant

Mario Gooden Studio

Mechanical / Electrical / Plumbing Engineer / IT

Vanderweil Engineers

Civil Engineer

Woodard & Curran

Geotechnical Engineer

GZA GeoEnvironmental

Landscape Architect

Stimson Landscape Architects

Fire Alarm / Fire Protection / Code Consultant

Jensen Hughes

Energy Modeling

Andelman and Lelek

Security

Siemens Industries

Building Envelope

Building Enclosure Science

Acoustical Consultant

Threshold Acoustics

Theater and Performance

Theatre Projects

Lighting Design

Tillotson Design Associates

Structural Engineer

Odeh Engineers

Specifications Writer

Construction Specifications Inc.