Emmanuel Campus Recognized for Commitment to Revitalization
April 20, 2011
Emmanuel College has been awarded a Paul E. Tsongas Award by Preservation Massachusetts. This year's awards recognized and honored "Massachusetts colleges, universities and preparatory schools that have utilized and embraced preservation into their educational identity." Emmanuel was honored at the Preservation Massachusetts' Preservation Awards Dinner on May 4th at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel.
"We are honored to receive this award given by Preservation Massachusetts," said Treasurer Sister Anne Donovan, SND. "Emmanuel, along with our architects Goody Clancy, has worked very hard to construct modernized facilities that honor the traditional architecture. The College is committed to providing the best amenities to our students while maintaining the integrity and history of the campus."
The Tsongas Award acknowledges those "who have played an extraordinary role in promoting the preservation of [the] Commonwealth's past for the benefit of the future." Fellow higher education institutions honored this year include Amherst College, Boston College, College of the Holy Cross, Emerson College, Harvard University, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Middlesex Community College, Springfield College, Suffolk University, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and Wellesley College.
The architectural firm Goody Clancy, which designed the Jean Yawkey Center and Maureen Murphy Wilkens Science Center, submitted a nomination on the College's behalf. Emmanuel was one of three schools recognized in the "Campus Commitment for Revitalization" category, which highlighted projects that demonstrated an institution's "commitment to community by incorporating educational facilities within the community fabric."
Emmanuel's submission focused on core planning goals created by Goody Clancy in 2000. These goals emphasized leveraging the College's location in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, the development of a campus master plan, and guiding the architecture of future buildings to ensure that they would uphold the "spirit and the letter of the master plan as well as strengthen and honor the Administration Building as the symbolic center of the campus by building around it."
From this plan emerged the Jean Yawkey Center and the Wilkens Science Center, two buildings that reinforce Emmanuel's vision of a community of learning and offer academic and social space to expand and enrich the College's curriculum while restoring the cohesive, interactive community. Emmanuel also recently embarked on the restoration of the historic Administration Building.
"Emmanuel is a very different place than it was a decade ago," said Good Clancy Principal Rob Chandler. "The physical changes that grew out of the master plan - the Yawkey Center and the Wilkens Science Center - support a revitalized social and academic community. The new buildings, planned to shape and animate a new green quad centered around the restored Administration Building, reveal that community. As you walk across the campus and look through their glass facades, you see the life of the College and feel the vitality of Emmanuel."
Emmanuel's commitment to community and revitalization also speaks to the College's "green" efforts in the restoration and preservation of campus. The Wilkens Science Center was designed to LEED Silver qualification, while underground parking expanded the quad and created additional green space around campus.
In his official acceptance letter to Goody Clancy, Preservation Massachusetts President James W. Igoe praised both the College and the firm for their efforts.
"Emmanuel's commitment to their historic campus showcases the incredible work and dedication of [Goody Clancy] and serves as a model for other Massachusetts colleges and universities to emulate," he wrote.
Preservation Massachusetts is the statewide nonprofit historic preservation organization dedicated to preserving the Commonwealth's historic and cultural heritage. It was established in 1989 and is supported entirely by members and concerned citizens. The organization works in partnership with national, state and local preservation organizations and individuals across the Commonwealth.
