Messiah College, Grantham, PA

Boyer Hall accommodates 11 departments of the School of Humanities and the School of Education and Social Sciences at this liberal arts college near Harrisburg. The facility also has 90 faculty offices, which means it is headquarters to nearly half of the faculty.

Boyer Hall includes 22 general use classrooms with between 30 and 70 seats, as well as:

• A 140-seat auditorium and film studio
• Specialized classrooms for teacher education
• Language lab
• Resource rooms
• Writing/learning center
• Administrative office suites
• Behavioral science interview and counseling rooms

The atrium has gathering space for students and public passage to other parts of campus. Each of the Boyer Hall academic departments is encouraged to establish a presence in the atrium, whether with artifact displays or with unique pieces of its academic program. That way, the building serves as an instructional tool for visitors and people who work, teach, or study in it.

The location provided siting and design challenges. One side faces the new green, one is adjacent to a chapel whose integrity had to be respected, one is next to a grove of trees that had to be preserved, and the other is at the top of a steep embankment ending at a creek. By adjusting to these obstacles, the facility defines the south edge of the new green space at the heart of campus.

Completion: 2003
Size: 98,170 gsf
Cost: $19.06 million