Corcoran School of the Arts & Design
at George Washington University
Reimagining a National Historic Landmark as a state-of-the-art home for education
In 2014, following decades of financial struggles, Washington’s storied Corcoran Gallery and School of Art + Design dissolved, entrusting its 17,000-piece art collection to the National Gallery of Art, and the College and its 1897 Beaux-Arts home to the George Washington University. To keep the Corcoran’s legacy alive, GW sought to assimilate its arts and design program into the larger university and complete the most significant modernization of its Ernest Flagg-designed building in 90 years.
This project reimagines the National Historic Landmark gallery building as an immersive educational environment for the arts, offering a socially dynamic and programmatically rich education woven into the fabric of a 19th Century architectural masterpiece. The new program of classroom, studio, administration, fabrication, and gallery spaces places primary emphasis on educational functions. Learning spaces have been elevated from the basement and given new prominence under the glow of refurbished lay lights – glazed ceiling panels – in second-floor gallery spaces.
Even with a wholesale change in program, historic preservation was paramount to the renovation. Code-required circulation spaces were gently introduced to the existing gallery spaces in a way that they could be removed later without damage to the historic fabric. The building’s marble exterior has been carefully restored. An elegant ramp was added to the New York Avenue main entrance to improve accessibility, working closely with the secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts to preserve the building’s character. A stained-glass window that was determined to be the product of Nazi looting was returned to the family of its original owner.
Throughout, extreme care was taken to protect the historic fabric while adding the required improvements. Modern fire-suppression systems, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing upgrades, accessible ramps, restrooms with 50 additional toilets, elevators, water filling stations, recycling stations, and specialized HEPA ventilation were carefully threaded into a building whose interiors were landmarked. The result is an unparalleled environment for arts education woven into an invaluable piece of architectural and cultural history.
History of a landmark
One of the first private museums in the United States, the Corcoran Gallery of Art was established in 1869 to be “dedicated to art and used solely for the purpose of encouraging the American genius.” After quickly outgrowing its original home (now the Renwick Gallery) the Corcoran Collection moved in 1897 to a new, White House-adjacent building designed by American architect Ernest Flagg. For 145 years, the Corcoran Gallery and its School of the Arts + Design played a central role in Washington life and in the cultural life of the nation.
Signature element of the monumental core of our nation’s Capital
The Corcoran Gallery is a critical piece of the monumental core of Washington, D.C. Two blocks from the White House, the landmark building straddles the line between the political center of power in the nation and the main campus of the George Washington University in Foggy Bottom.
Stabilizing and repurposing the building preserves an irreplicable contributing element to the urban fabric of Washington. Meanwhile, it transforms the Corcoran from a stand-alone institution into a new campus hub, fully integrated into GW and the cultural and social life of the city.
High tech, low touch
This structure had National Historic Landmark protection, which prevents the exterior and, unusually, the interior of the building from being altered without the express permission of the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board or U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.
Related challenges, such as the building’s badly deteriorated condition, missing as-built drawings, the vastly different code requirements, and a budget shortfall of roughly 50 percent, were complicated and amplified by this single factor. The design team worked closely with the Commission of Fine Arts and the Historic Preservation Officer for the District of Columbia through all phases of planning and design to ensure that all protections were addressed.
A range of methods were used to determine the extent of moisture incursion, structural risks and mechanical-system issues. Laser scanning, robotic CCTV cameras, and Computational Fluid Dynamics and Hygrothermal analyses were carefully combined to create a historically layered BIM model.
Digitally preserved, physically improved
The data ecosystem coalesced into a BIM model that provides the most detailed look ever of the intricate forms and finishes, structures and systems of the Flagg Building. As design progressed, the model was updated to reflect improvements.
Educational environments designed as exhibit spaces
The Corcoran’s original galleries were designed to enable the free flow of exhibit viewers from one space into another. Converting these spaces into code-compliant classrooms necessitated a new circulation pattern with ingress and egress zones differentiated from learning spaces. As a solution, the design treats the classrooms and studio spaces as sculptural objects within the galleries. Circulation winds through a series of acoustically buffered learning environments.
Historic landmark restrictions prevented alteration to the delicate coved ceilings and plaster and wood ornamentation. To mitigate this, the studio spaces use removable walls that interact only minimally with historic elements. The new walls do not reach the ceiling, but they and the ceilings use acoustic treatments to buffer sound transmission. Under the refurbished lay lights, the studios appear as a series of gorgeously daylit, technologically advanced learning spaces that are both differentiated from and cocooned within the historic fabric.
Lay lights
Refurbished lay lights – an early daylighting technique – allows natural light to enter the galleries. Sunlight enters through attic skylights before being softened by frosted glass in the gallery ceilings. This casts a diffuse, artistically reliable light into the galleries – this helped make the Corcoran one of the most innovative galleries of its day. The design team went to great length to preserve this effect, threading mechanical systems carefully through the attic space to avoid casting shadows.
A new hub for student life
The Colonnade is the heart of the Corcoran. With this renovation, the space now serves as a hub for student life at GW. The new use creates vibrancy with free programs, lectures, music performance and exhibitions, also maintaining continuity with this space’s beloved place in Washington’s cultural history. Street activity is increased as students and faculty walk or bike to and from the larger campus. This space is what allowed the Corcoran to transform from a stand-alone institution into an integral part of GW , while honoring the space’s and the facility’s history.
Mechanical Tetris
New building systems, including full mechanical, were required to create an environment conducive to comfortable study and art conservation. This was made more difficult by the National Gallery of Art’s stringent environmental standards, which needed to be met in order for Corcoran Collection artworks to be moved back to the facility. Landmark protections on the interior, and an almost total lack of non-contributing space, required ingenuity when adding new mechanical systems.
Making arts education accessible
Much of the facility was previously not accessible, but now it is fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The new main entrance for the Corcoran is on New York Ave, which posed a challenge for handicapped students and users. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts was very clear that any ADA ramp be harmonious with the historic fabric. A visit to the site with then-Secretary J. Carter Brown led to a sketching session in which the pictured ramp was proposed. The ramp blends gracefully with the historic façade while giving disabled students access to arts education and has been praised by the Commission of Fine Arts.