Brown University Galen V. Henderson Admission Welcome Center

With over 40,000 annual applicants and 10,000 campus visitors, Brown needed a space that could serve as a touchdown point for guided tours and a self-directed discovery experience for independent visitors. The space includes a reception desk, interactive touchscreens and displays, a refreshment counter, as well as lounge and co-working spaces for visitors in transit. All of these elements support both formal tours and independent exploration. 

Utile’s design transforms the room into an introduction to Brown’s eclectic campus by reimagining the existing gallery’s closely-spaced columns as architectural follies. Each column becomes a distinct material expression drawn directly from campus buildings: corbelled brick, cross-laminated timber, fluted walnut, limestone block, and bent wood veneers. The colonnade invites visitors to engage with Brown’s diverse offerings and form a lasting memory of the experience. 

Just as the buildings at Brown are diverse in character, so too are the paths taken by its students. This design forms a parallel to Brown’s celebrated open curriculum, which does not require undergraduate students to take any specific set of courses. At the same time, these independent totems are unified under an expansive, illuminated wood canopy. The welcome center conveys Brown’s commitment to individual experience with an architecture that unifies diverse pieces within a stable whole.