Framingham State University McCarthy Dining Commons

Framingham State University faced a challenge: its students lacked a quality environment in which to eat and socialize. The McCarthy Campus Center’s existing layout placed constraints on programming and dining opportunities. Seating was dispersed across a level devoid of natural light, making events feel congested and flat.

Today, the reimagined dining commons includes a 5,280 square-foot addition that expands seating and enhances students’ connection with the outdoors. Crafted with continuous glazing, this transparent “jewel box” invites all 250 new seats to participate in the campus scenery.

Large windows give students a new perspective. Students now enjoy views of a new elevated garden to the southwest and a tree-lined primary campus pathway to the north. To the west, parallel stands of dense trees frame a historic neo-Romanesque chapel just beyond the project site.

The elevated ceilings, 55-feet-high, feature halo-like “chandeliers” that add to the open and modern feel.

The design achieves great outcomes through small interventions. It takes advantage of the dining hall’s traditionally central role in campus life as a place of daily gatherings and special communal events.

Flexibility is key to the new McCarthy Dining Commons.

The design adds a component that serves the Dining Commons in a larger sense—an outdoor space. Highly flexible, it meets the shifting needs of the dining commons over time. The space can evolve from garden to dining terrace to future dining space as needed.

“The exterior design of the Dining Commons expansion is a simple elegance in glass and lineal banding. The design develops the strong theme of its indoor/outdoor connection, highlighting an intentional blending of the new with the existing. The project’s strong attention to design and detail is seen throughout.”

AIA Central Massachusetts, 2016 Design Awards Jury