Pratt Institute's new Student Success and Wellness Center, a four-story, 26,000 SF building originally built in 1955 as a dormitory, will co-locate several of Pratt's student affairs services to create one central location. The center will provide support for the "whole student" – fostering physical and emotional wellness, academic success and supported learning.
With a keen understanding of site and program, our design considers key project-specific concepts for wellness. The project transforms this existing building into a comfortable and welcoming place for students seeking support, prioritizes ease of use and clear navigation, creates a sense of connection and belonging within the school community, maximizes views of Pratt's historic campus and natural landscape, and includes healthy and responsibly sourced materials. This partial renovation aims to make the greatest impact with the lightest possible touch, maintaining much of the existing building fabric while addressing necessary upgrades to systems and infrastructure for sustainability, accessibility, and resilience. Targeted modifications to the existing floor layouts break up the otherwise intimate scale of the main program spaces to provide moments of "exhale" and improve the overall experience for both students and staff.
