Eero Saarinen with a model of Morse and Stiles Colleges, courtesy Yale University Archive

Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, the first retrospective on the Finnish-born architect, is currently on view in New Haven, Connecticut through May 2. The tour concludes at Yale, where Saarinen studied architecture and designed some of his most significant buildings and where the major archive devoted to his work resides.

Details of our current renovation of Saarinen's Morse and Ezra Stiles College are included in the exhibition. The project includes the restoration and renovation of all existing facilities, the reconfiguration and updating of living quarters, and the addition of a below grade, naturally-lit, 30,000-square-foot common space, all while retaining Saarinen's original design intent. Morse College, named for Samuel F.B. Morse (Yale, 1810), artist, physician, and inventor of the electric telegraph, and its companion, Stiles College, named for Ezra Stiles (Yale, 1746), theologian, lawyer, scientist, philosopher, and Yale president, were conceived as a single design, intended to be both responsive to and distinct from Yale's other residential colleges.

The design of the complex, which occupies an irregularly shaped, angular site, was inspired in part by the winding streets and medieval towers of such Italian hill towns as the Tuscan village of Sam Gimignano. At the same time, it was created with an eye toward other Yale buildings, including the complex's most prominent neo-Gothic neighbors: Payne Whitney Gymnasium, designed by John Russell Pope, and the Hall of Graduate Studies, a work of John Gamble Rogers, both dating from 1932.

While Saarinen's buildings were intended to harmonize with their older neighbors-albeit while maintaining a clearly modern identity-the architect subverted some of the traditional features of the University's residential colleges. For example, rather than siting the complex in a quadrangle that is closed to city residents, he opened the grounds to the public. (In fact, Saarinen's intent was that there would be no gates separating the Colleges from the city of New Haven.) He also discarded Yale's concept for traditional student living space, which comprises a study and two bedrooms, in favor of single rooms. And he replaced the spacious common room located next to the dining halls in other Yale colleges with darkly lit basement rooms he called "rathskellers."

Saarinen discussed his design for Morse in a 1959 article in the Yale Daily News: "Our primary effort was to create an architecture which would recognize the individual as individual instead of an anonymous integer in a group." Although his design has its fervent supporters, residents have also regarded it as isolating.

In designing the comprehensive renovation of Morse and Stiles Colleges, KieranTimberlake was charged with several tasks. Primary among these were the complete restoration of the exterior of the historic stone-and-concrete buildings. In addition, improvements will be made to the surrounding landscape,  residential suites will be created, student social spaces will be upgraded, and new common space will be added.

The new plan provides housing for 250 undergraduates in each College, as well as additional apartments for masters, deans, and faculty. Highlights include the addition of suites-including two or more bedrooms with shared living space-while also maintaining a number of single rooms, and upgrades to and expansion of Saarinen's original below-grade common rooms. The latter will be nearly tripled in size and provided with natural illumination, and will include contiguous snack areas, art-exhibition space, and game rooms, among other improvements. The dining halls and libraries will also be fully renovated.

In addition to the work on existing structures, the project includes the creation of a new two-level, 30,000-square-foot space located below ground. The top level will serve as additional common space for students from both Colleges, and will house a 100-seat auditorium; weight, exercise, and dance rooms; and a recording studio and space for music practice, while the lower level will contain such "back of house" areas as food preparation and storage space for the dining service, and mechanical and electrical rooms. Accessible from each College by stair and elevator, the addition will center on a landscaped courtyard at basement level. A steel-and-wood bridge above the courtyard will connect the passage between the Colleges to Payne Whitney Gymnasium, and tunnels will connect the residential towers to each other and to the new common space. A new outdoor dining terrace will be added to each College, adjacent to and accessible from the dining halls.

The exteriors of both Colleges feature Cubist-inspired cement sculptures created by Sardinian-born New York artist Costantino Nivola (1911-88), which were executed as part of Saarinen's original architectural scheme for the Colleges. These are undergoing restoration. In order to fulfill the University's commitment to sustainability, the renovated Colleges will feature landscaping with indigenous plants, improved mechanical controls, dual-flush toilets, recycled materials, and cisterns to collect stormwater.