McClurg Hall, University of the South
Sewanee, Tenn.
Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates

A stone fortress becomes Sewanee's new dining centerpiece

© Craig Blackmon

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The University of the South, better known as "Sewanee," is a venerable 150-year-old institution that maintains a tradition of its many resident students dining together. The architect designed the 38,400-square-foot dining hall large enough to serve all its undergraduate students, on an important site near the edge of the inner campus, where the historic All Saints' Chapel and other significant stone structures are located. The building creates a new, open quadrangle and defines an eastern edge of the campus. It includes two major and a series of secondary dining spaces, a servery, a state-of-the-art kitchen, meeting rooms, and support and administrative spaces.

The design honors the Gothic spirit of the campus by using stone, natural light, and an emphasis on the vertical, yet is a distinct and modern addition to this style. Following in the tradition of numerous significant structures on campus, McClurg Hall is constructed of large blocks of roughly hewn, native sandstone, which lends to its distinctive character. The university reopened its own quarries for the first time in nearly 20 years to supply 750 tons of sandstone to the project, with another 1,500 tons coming from nearby sources. The university employs its own stonecutters, who were responsible for quarrying and fabricating a majority of the stone. The roof is covered in multi-colored slate shingles, which also are found throughout the campus to signify important buildings.

The refectory features thirteen, 39-foot-high stone "buttresses" capped by limestone finials, separated by floor-to-ceiling, metal-finned glass curtain wall and terminating in a semi-circular, glazed "apse." These walls define a central space and smaller side aisle dining niches. The informal dining room features massive, stone walls punctuated by bay windows that terminate in 30-foot-high, metal-finned glass curtain walls. This extensive use of glass lends a sense of transparency to the stone structure, maximizing natural light and enabling views through the building to campus landmarks such as All Saints' Chapel and Shapard Tower.

Formal name of Project:
McClurg Hall, University of the South

Location:
Sewanee, Tenn.

Gross square footage:
43,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
16 million

Owner:
University of The South
735 University Avenue
Sewanee, TN 37838-1000
615-598-1170/615-598-1645 (FAX)

Architect(s):
Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates
902 Broadway
New York, NY 10010
212-677-6030/212-979-0535 (FAX)