The new Elizabeth Hubert Malott Commons is a compelling example of successfully solidifying a sense of place and identity for Scripps College, a respected and distinguished member of the noted Claremont Colleges and one of the oldest and finest liberal arts women’s colleges in the United States.
The college established in the early 1990’s a strategic plan to centralize the food services in one place, a vital new source for communal interaction. The existing Florence Rand Lang Art Building was selected to be renovated and expanded. Designed in 1938 as the final piece of Gordon Kaufmann’s campus plan, it was, unfortunately, not of the character or quality of his earlier work.
Guided by the Scripps tradition of creating buildings with spaces of simplicity and beauty, Levin recreated a complex of one- and two-story buildings and courtyards. The extensive renovation was supplemented with five individual additions. The “renewed” center houses the servery, dining rooms of differing scales, formality and ambiance; faculty lounge, offices for student organizations and government, music studios and the career-resource center. It has become the gathering place which fosters the intellectual and social interaction and the sense of community the college desired.
“Brenda Levin has brought every element of the Scripps College Commons project into perfect harmony. She has gutted and redesigned a nondescript building and its surrounding space, creating a place of beauty with an irresistible quality that spells community. It is the marketplace, the green, the town square of Scripps and, is already the dynamic center of the campus.”
-Elizabeth Malott, Donor
