Macalester College, DeWitt Wallace Library

Rethinking Flexible, Interdisciplinary Campus Resources

After consolidating its collections, Macalester College took on a transformation of the second floor of the DeWitt Wallace Library over the course of one summer. The 10,000 SF remodel became an innovative space for tinkering, learning, collaborating, reflecting, and showcasing the work of its students. The floor had been largely untouched since the building originally opened in 1987 and was primarily used to house stacks of books. The overall goal and vision for the project was to create a fresh and flexible student-centered resource space that encourages students from across disciplines to come together to create, explore ideas, and collaborate.

Project timeline from first design meeting to opening day was only 29 weeks long, which required a highly integrated team. The collaborative design process began with defining the college’s needs and wants, such as a high-tech makerspace, a performance/showcase space, and various places to gather. The design team grouped these various uses into neighborhoods to allow for a wide variety of space types within a relatively small footprint.

Two active learning classrooms serve as academic space in the day and study space in the evening. Group study rooms, interactive technology, whiteboard walls, and flexible furniture support a variety of study and collaboration modalities. The Idea Lab, supported by the College’s multidisciplinary entrepreneurship program, offers space for students to play, build, make, tinker, and invent.

The resulting design and service transformation is an authentic and invigorating space that supports academic rigor, creativity and collaboration and is positioned to remain relevant to students and faculty as the space continues to evolve to suit the needs of the campus community.