Renovation Transforms Historic Rhode Island Hall
Rhode Island Hall, one of the oldest buildings on Brown's College Green, was rededicated on Friday, October 16, 2009. The 170-year old building has been completely renovated to create a home for the Artemis A. W. and Martha Sharp Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World. The dramatic new space was designed by Anmahian Winton Architects, a Cambridge, Massachusetts firm with numerous awards for creative architectural design.
The principal architect, Nick Winton '85, kept the building's historic shell intact while restructuring the interior to create a welcoming and stimulating environment for both scholarship and community. Open meeting spaces are interspersed with exhibit areas, and the renovation provides space for laboratories, studios and study areas. The space was designed to suit the mission of the Joukowsky Institute, a multidisciplinary program created in 2006 to foster the academic study and public promotion of the art and archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean, Egypt, and Western Asia.
Susan Alcock, director of the Institute, says that the new space "truly reflects the vision of Art and Martha Joukowsky: it's big, it's bold, and it's friendly." Chancellor emeritus Artemis Joukowsky '55, P'87 and professor emerita Martha Joukowsky Ph.D. '58, P '87 agree that this building is a "dream fulfilled." "Now we have space for faculty, we have rooms where meetings can take place, and we have enough space for a conference, in a proud building for archaeology."
