Dairy Barn Transformed into Gorgeous LEED Silver Design and Technology Center on SUNY Campus

<a href="http://www.morrisville.edu/facilities/designcenter.aspx" target="_blank">SUNY Morrisville State College</a> has transformed a historic arched agricultural building into a new <a href="http://inhabitat.com/richard-meier-partners-unveils-plans-for-an-eco-office-in-rio-de-janeiro/" target="_blank">LEED Silver work center</a>. Designed by <a href="http://perkinseastman.com/projectDetails.aspx?p=3407203&amp;c=2400014&amp;pn=Higher%20Education&amp;pa=3408924" target="_blank">Perkins Eastman Architects</a>, the adaptive reuse project has created an open and airy space for the Center for Design and Technology. The <a href="http://inhabitat.com/atelier-bardill-features-a-stamped-pattern-facade-and-circular-cut-courtyard/" target="_blank">former dairy barn</a> was a recognizable symbol on the college’s campus, and it's now a symbol of the school's commitment to sustainability.

The new Center for Design and Technology creates a new entrance for the Morrisville campus. The character of the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/stealth-barn-is-a-striking-black-guest-house-converted-from-a-plain-barn/" target="_blank">former dairy barn</a> is preserved, rising in a wood-clad arch that overlooks the campus.

Perkins Eastman gave the barn a modern and sustainable facelift, by replacing the entire front façade and part of the base with <a href="http://inhabitat.com/sou-fujimotos-glassy-house-na-blurs-the-distinction-between-indoor-and-outdoor-space/" target="_blank">energy efficient glass</a>, which floods the interior with natural light, reducing the need for artificial light throughout.

At night, the former barn glows with energy efficient LED lights from the inside, bearing a sculptural shape of the reclaimed barn from afar.

Inside, the sky-high ceiling is divided up with mezzanine spaces, which are connected by catwalks. An exterior spiral staircase was built to the side of the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/photos-san-franciscos-southern-pacific-brewing-is-a-tree-filled-beer-sanctuary-in-a-renovated-warehouse/" target="_blank">barn structure</a>, to mimic the shape of the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/trees-take-root-in-abandoned-silos-in-american-farming-communities/" target="_blank">grain silo</a> that once stood on the site.

The space is divided into communal areas, digital production and photography departments, a woodshop, prototyping machines, and classrooms where—not so ironically—sustainable architecture is taught.

The sprawling new center serves as a living model of the sustainable design courses taught inside, while also <a href="http://inhabitat.com/quaint-elizabethan-manor-house-museum-is-transformed-with-golden-extensions/" target="_blank">preserving the history</a> of the Morrisville Campus area.