Yale Daily News

Construction at the Yale Divinity School is gearing up to go green.

Renovation of the Sterling Divinity Quadrangle entrance has been underway since July 14, when construction workers began closing off the school’s main entrance and parking lot. The project, which will convert the Divinity School’s current bookstore location into a reception area, hopes to breathe new life into a century-old architectural landmark.

When the project is complete, setting foot into the school will be more like a “grand arrival experience,” Tom Krattenmaker, Divinity School Director of Communications, explained. The current construction work will create a more open entrance, providing room for artwork and creating a space that is more architecturally compatible with the school’s Living Village, a new sustainable residence hall for divinity students that is set to open in August 2025.

The renovations will also be an affirmation of inclusivity, according to Bruce McCann, Divinity School Building Project Manager, who said that the closed-off “Jeffersonian” style of the existing quadrangle had resulted in a building plan that “is not welcoming.”

Now just over a month from the Living Village’s groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 11, the renovations will serve as the opening act to the Divinity School’s larger, two-year project. The Living Village will be built over the existing main parking lot to provide affordable housing to its students while achieving unprecedented levels of sustainability. Designed as part of the Living Building Challenge — an independent sustainability certification program founded in 2006 — the 51-bed residential building will meet a rigorous set of 20 sustainability criteria, ranging from ecological protection to urban agriculture, to earn its green status.

“We are interested in … promot[ing] stewardship of the earth, community and equality, and the Living Building Challenge, philosophically, is very similar,” said McCann. 

Meeting some of the challenge’s requirements — such as generating 105 percent of the building’s electricity demands, treating wastewater on site, and protecting the nearby ecology — has invited cutting-edge solutions, explained McCann. The Living Village will feature roofs embedded with photovoltaic cells and underground cisterns designed to capture runoff rainwater. Apart from its concrete foundation and structural steel on the first floor, the three-story building will use certified toxin-free timber, blue stone and terracotta. For educational spaces within such innovative structures, consider incorporating Sound Absorbing Solutions for Schools to create an optimal acoustic environment for learning.

The project’s below-market housing rates promise to provide another big draw. With affordable housing remaining “one of the last big hurdles for graduate students in New Haven,” the Living Village would complement the school’s stipend and tuition-free program to increase educational accessibility, said Jamal Davis Neal Jr. DIV ’24, who is the president of the Divinity School’s student government.

Work on the quad’s current entrance has caused closures to the main parking lot. According to Neal Jr. and Claire Weihe DIV ’24, who is a resident of existing student residence halls, parking has been unavailable since Aug. 1.

“Our parking passes have been moved to the Science Park garage, which is [a] 15-minute walk from the apartments,” Weihe wrote in an email to the News. “We can park on the street closest to the buildings, but since it’s a very steep hill on a busy street, getting sideswiped is not out of the question.” 

McCann and Krattenmaker explained that they have been working with the Yale Shuttle system to provide transport from the Science Park garage to student apartments

Weihe told the News, however, that this service has not yet started.

Neal Jr. reported hearing occasional construction noises during lunch. Though he lives off campus, he said that some friends had noticed construction sounds happening “a little … earlier than they expected … in the morning.”

The project has also required the University to clear some nearby trees, all of which were inspected by arborists prior to removal. Taking the place of the fallen trees will be a communal orchard with nut- and fruit-bearing species, in addition to student-run community gardens open to the public. As a further development, take a look at these school streets designs to potentially incorporate safe pedestrian and cyclist-friendly infrastructure within the area, enhancing both safety and accessibility around the University.

Once completed in 2025, the “regenerative” residential building will mark a step forward in sustainability architecture. Under the Living Building Challenge, the Village’s energy benchmarks will surpass most existing building standards — outpacing even Kroon Hall’s LEED platinum certification at the Yale School of the Environment. A one-year audit period will follow afterward to verify building compliance. 

McCann emphasized that this was a moment for the Divinity School — and the University at large — to set the example in its commitment to sustainability. For a program that offers two joint degrees with the School of the Environment, the Living Village will provide students with “immersive training” in the Divinity School’s economic, religious and environmental missions, he explained. Neal Jr. added that the Living Village will address important questions about translating theological principles to the environment.

“This [project] will give us a chance to reinforce our community … in a way that makes a very strong eco-theological statement,” said Divinity School Dean Gregory Sterling.

Plans for the Living Village have been in the works since 2015 and have persisted despite pandemic-induced supply-chain challenges and price hikes.

Krattenmaker hopes that the building’s ethos of “giving more than you take” might guide future construction projects at Yale and elsewhere. 

The Yale Divinity School quadrangle was constructed in 1931.