New Haven, Connecticut

Completion Date: June 2010

Owner:Yale School of Medicine

Program: A 1,700-square-foot museum devoted to pioneer neurosurgeon Dr. Harvey Cushing, located in a sub-basement of the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at the Yale School of Medicine. The project consists of a seminar room and an archive of Cushing's research and memorabilia, including operating instruments, patient records, Cushing's notebooks, photos, drawings, books, and some 600 brains showing a variety of tumors.

Design Concept and Solution: In fitting the museum into a tight sub-basement space, Turner Brooks Architects wanted to maximize the display area and create a sort of winding journey through the history of brain science and Cushing's life. Visitors descend into the museum on a ramp and make their way around the curve of the archive toward a seminar room at the rear. The architects fashioned a sequence of angular cherry veneer counters, shelves, and display cases, which alternately jut out and recede back toward the walls. The irregular shapes provide larger surfaces where they're needed while forming a series of pockets and nooks that invite exploration. A wide interior window in the seminar room offers a view back through the archive, like a snapshot of neurological history.

Architect:
Turner Brooks Architects
319 Peck Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06513
203.772.3244 T
203.787.3625 F

People

Owner
Yale School of Medicine

Architect
Turner Brooks Architects
319 Peck Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06513
203.772.3244 T
203.787.3625 F

Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:
Turner Brooks, AIA – Principal (Registered Architect)
Aaron Amosson, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP – Project Manager

Design Team:  Sonya Hals, Alice Tai, Hilary Zaic, Jason Pytko

Interior designer: Turner Brooks Architects

Engineer(s):
MEP: Vanderweil Engineers, LLP, Boston, MA

Consultant(s)
Landscape:
Lighting: Atelier Ten, New Haven, CT

Other: Christie Day (Yale Facilities Project Manager)

General contractor: Babbidge Facilities Construction - Ron Penton, Project Manager 

Photographer(s)
Terry Dagradi, Yale photo+design
203-737-5276
terry.dagradi@yale.edu

Turner Brooks Architects

CAD system, project management, or other software used:

ArchiCAD		  

Products

Hardware
Cabinet hardware: Sugatsune

Interior finishes
Acoustical ceilings: Armstrong (Seminar Room)

Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: Custom millwork by Atlantic Millwork, North Haven, CT

Special surfacing: Polished Concrete by Custom Concrete Solutions, Don Pinger

Carpet: Shaw Contract (Seminar Room)

Furnishings
Chairs: Steelcase

Tables: Steelcase (Seminar Room)

Lighting
Interior ambient lighting: ELP 

Downlights: Spectrum

Task lighting: Bartco

Display: KKDC MiMi, Edge Softstrip, Amerlux

Add any additional building components or special equipment that made a significant contribution to this project:
Archival Exhibit Cases: Small Corp, Greenfield, MA

Steel Railings, Panels & Brackets: Carrano’s Railings & Welding