Historic Yale buildings renovated with Crittall

Crittall steel windows have been specified for a major renovation and upgrade at the heart of Yale University’s New Haven Campus in Connecticut, USA.

The Ivy League university’s former Hall of Graduate Studies is to become a new Center for the Humanities bringing together in one central location some 16 hitherto disparate departments to create greater scope for collaborative working among students and scholars.

The buildings, originally constructed between 1930 and 1932 in a Collegiate Gothic style characteristic of Yale, were designed by architect James Gamble Rogers. They enclose two courtyards with, as their centrepiece a 14-storey tower.

Crittall was contracted to replace the windows in the tower and Berkeley profiles were specified including both windows and doors.

It had been the intention of Boston-based architects AnnBeha to retain and refurbish the original windows in the other buildings facing onto the quadrangle, but it was later decided that it would be more cost-affective to replace them altogether and Crittall’s Berkeley profiles were again selected for this task.

The windows specified are dual- rather then double-glazed. The outer pane for the Yale contract is a leaded glass panel chosen to replicate the original appearance of the neo-gothic elevations. This is then backed by an inner, standard pane in order to improve weathertightness and thermal performance.

In total, Crittall will supply windows for more than 2,700 openings on the site.

“We are delighted to become involved once more with a Yale development that blends state-of-the-art education facilities with the historic character of this seat of learning,” said Crittall Managing Director, Russell Agar.

This is latest Yale contract for Crittall, one of the world’s leading designers and manufacturers of steel windows and doors. In 2017 Crittall supplied the fenestration for two new residential colleges built on a seven-acre site at New Haven.

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