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Yale Breaks Ground On Health Building

by Melissa Bailey | Jun 30, 2008 1:02 pm

(3) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Dixwell

IMG_0281.jpg“We’re excited about our new neighborhood,” said Dr. Paul Genecin, as Yale embarked on its latest campus expansion into Dixwell.

Genecin, head of university health services at Yale, spoke at a groundbreaking ceremony Monday at 55 Lock St. Workers dug on what was once an empty field behind the Grove Street Cemetery, separating Yale’s campus from Dixwell, the historic heart of the city’s African-American community. On the vacant lot will rise a 38,000-square-foot health facility to serve 33,000 Yale students and employees.

(Click here and here for past Independent stories on the project.)

IMG_0278.jpgThe shimmering structure is Yale’s latest move to wrap its campus around the cemetery, creating more space as it prepares to expand. The facilities lies just across the Farmington Canal from where Yale plans to build two new residential colleges, increasing the undergraduate student body by about 15 percent. The new health facility will replace one on Hillhouse Avenue, where quarters have become cramped.

Having Yale expand into Dixwell “would absolutely have been a battle” 15 years ago, before Rick Levin took the helm as Yale’s president, said Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. The university’s expansion plans, including a deal to swap the closure of city streets for $10 million in city benefits, have passed with barely a peep of dissent.

Yale’s Rose Center at 101 Ashmun St., which houses the Yale police department and doubles as a community center, has had “a real positive” impact on the neighborhood, DeStefano said.

IMG_0286.jpg“We’re better together. We stand on each other’s shoulders,” said the mayor (at center in photo), before needling Levin over the wisdom of building a hospital with a window view of gravestones.

In a neighborhood where immense disparities have caused a rift between town and gown in the past, two Dixwell leaders said they were pleased with the way Yale has gone about developing its plans, keeping neighbors in the loop and allowing for local input.

Dixwell Alderman Greg Morehead welcomed the plans, particularly one community benefit: Yale plans to give scholarships to seven Dixwell youths to train them to be emergency medical technicians.

IMG_0289.jpgRoxanne Condon (pictured), head of the Dixwell Enterprise Community Management Team, has been at the forefront of neighborhood negotiations on projects on the Yale-Dixwell line.

“They’ve been a very good neighbor every inch of the way,” said Condon, who’s lived in Dixwell for 20 years. She was particularly proud to announce that construction will soon be underway on the adjacent Scantlebury Park. Yale contributed $500,000 towards the park as part of the $10 million city benefits package.

Condon said she’s still “putting pressure” on Yale to redesign one aspect of the health facility plan, a parking garage that will border the park. She said she wants to make sure that the garage, with its fa√ßade, entrances and “perfumes,” doesn’t interfere with the serenity and safety of the new green space.

The health services building, which Levin described as an “edgy” building with few right angles, is designed by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects of Atlanta, Georgia. It is expected to open in 2010.

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posted by: Ben on June 30, 2008  8:03pm

Sounds like Win. Win. Win. Nice Work Yale and NH.

posted by: robn on July 1, 2008  9:25am

Scogin-Elam are fine architects and their building will be a very welcome addition to New Haven.

posted by: Downtown New Haven on July 1, 2008  12:14pm

This future-architectural-landmark building will be a beacon on the Farmington Canal Greenway and for the whole Yale campus (a tower element was rumoured at one point, though it doesn’t appear in the rendering above).  I’m sure Yale will ensure that it respects its urban context on all sides—particularly the parking garage and the area alongside the Canal.

The new Sculpture Building’s garage did not receive a very positive review in the New York Architects’ Newspaper—not because it is particularly bad, but because the reviewer believed that Yale should be held to a higher standard and because of what it said about town vs. gown (richly detailed glass building creating a courtyard for students, versus metal panel building presenting a face to the city).

The building should have active ground level windows on all sides to encourage safety, security and activity.  The nearby Police Station is a great example of this.

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