Project
Beacon of
Education
Suffolk University
Boston, MA, USA
Education for Entrepreneurs
The new home for the Sawyer School of Business at Suffolk University is designed to prepare students for the environments in which they can expect to work in their professional lives.
1 of 6
Among the spaces repurposed from the former law school library is a central student lounge that now provides collaborative, flexible space within the dense office environment.
2 of 6
Group study rooms and informal social areas support contemporary pedagogies and business practices, which require flexibility to move between collaborative and heads-down work.
3 of 6
Glass partitions provide natural light and views to nearly all interior spaces — a challenge, given the large area originally designed for library stacks — while reducing the need for artificial lighting.
4 of 6
Private study nooks support both group and focused, heads-down work.
5 of 6
The renovation has established Sargent Hall as a dynamic, professional graduate center that promotes interaction across industries.
6 of 6
The ideal business education occurs in an environment that resembles professional life, which is exactly what Suffolk University got when it repurposed its former law library for the Sawyer School of Business.
By reconfiguring the fifth floor of Sargent Hall — former home of the law school library — for the graduate programs of the Sawyer Business School, NBBJ created new, state-of-the-art academic spaces that support contemporary pedagogies and business practices, which require the flexibility to move between collaborative projects and focused, heads-down work.
A central student lounge, group study rooms and informal social areas provide collaborative, flexible space within the dense faculty office environment. Glass partitions provide natural light and views to nearly all interior spaces — a challenge, given the large area originally designed for library stacks — while reducing the need for artificial lighting.
The project also reallocated space on adjacent floors to create an entrepreneurship center for the Law School and Sawyer Business School, which has established Sargent Hall as a dynamic, professional graduate center that promotes interaction across disciplines.
Spatial Organization
The program of the Sawyer Business School is translated into three spatial concepts, which reflect three basic modes of teaching and learning within the business school curriculum.
High-energy, collaborative teaching and conference spaces fill the center of the floor.
Touchdown spaces are scattered throughout the floor for scheduled or impromptu meetings.
Private offices are quiet, calm retreats that facilitate focused work.
