Carleton College | Northfield, Minnesota
Built in 1927, Evans Hall is one of the oldest dormitories on the Carleton College campus. It was built with a Harvard Style design, where the interior is vertically oriented, with “towers” of rooms that are accessible with unconnected stairwells. The College recognized the need for a comprehensive renovation to updates to this layout, as well as finishes, infrastructure, and envelope, all while retaining the historic character of the building as much possible. CDG designed a central corridor on each level, added modern bathrooms and technology to meet the needs of today’s students and added lounge spaces and kitchens to each floor to help develop student communities. The Cave, the student run venue in the basement of the building, was also updated as part of the project. To accommodate the new interior layout, a new exterior front door was necessary, designed to match the historic appearance of the building to meet the College’s desire that the addition looks like it was part of the original construction.
The installation of an elevator made the entire dormitory handicap accessible. Despite the extensive alterations to the floor plans, the original historic layouts of the dorm rooms were retained and 36 new beds were added to the dormitory. The entire heating, plumbing, and electrical systems were replaced during the renovation and fire protection was installed. After the interior work was completed, CDG worked with Carleton to develop a restoration plan that phased the exterior work over multiple summers so that the College could complete projects as their budget allowed and continue to focus on maintaining other campus buildings. Exterior work included comprehensive masonry restoration and replacement of all roof areas, windows, doors, and waterproofing.
