HAMILTON, N.Y. — Colgate University officials announced on December 11, 2025, that Olin Hall, Colgate University’s largest academic building, has been transformed into a state-of-the-art interdisciplinary facility, offering an upgraded and expanded learning environment for the university’s new and existing science programming.
Designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, Olin Hall unites modern laboratories, adaptable classrooms and offices, and vibrant common spaces in a single, interconnected environment, enhancing collaboration by bringing multiple disciplines together in the same space.
Established in 1971 as Colgate’s first dedicated science building, Olin Hall has undergone a series of incremental upgrades over the years, but needed a comprehensive, building-wide update. As part of Colgate’s Third Century Plan — the university’s largest and most important transformation in its 200-year history — the re-imagined Olin Hall adds approximately 20,000 square feet of new space while redefining how faculty and students interact, collaborate, and innovate across the sciences.
At the heart of Olin Hall’s 21st-century redesign is an expanded floor plan made possible by relocating the original mechanical room — which once occupied a central floor — to a newly constructed and discreetly raised penthouse at the back of the building.
This architectural intervention, supported by engineering partner Kohler Ronan, unlocked the building’s most valuable interior space. This transformed a former service area into classrooms, labs and gathering areas that create opportunities for spontaneous interaction and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Faculty offices, once tucked away behind laboratories, now line a dramatic two-story central common—a transparent, light-filled meeting space with stunning views of the distant hillside that brings together faculty and students in a relaxed, comfortable, and professional environment.
Collaborative student spaces, including a range of quiet study rooms specially sized to enable future office conversion if needed, adjoin the faculty spaces, creating additional opportunities for informal conversations, quick check-ins, and extended mentoring.
A dynamic, cross-stair links the two levels of the central commons, encouraging floor-to-floor interaction while offering a striking vantage point of the space below. At the ground floor, dedicated lounges address a long-standing need for spaces where students can meet between classes, connect with peers, or simply kick back and relax.
Olin Hall’s latest redesign resolves issues stemming from previous patchwork. Most notably, constrictive hallways ending in closed doors and private rooms have been replaced with a more functional and welcoming circulation route linking daylit spaces. Increased transparency brings users together and highlights ongoing research along this route.
“At every opportunity, Olin Hall brings faculty and students together, reflecting the importance of collaboration as a driving force of science and discovery,” RAMSA Associate Partner George de Brigard said in a news release.
“Our goal was to create a serendipitous environment—a place where disciplines intersect, and ideas are exchanged naturally,” de Brigard continued. “In this way, Olin Hall’s transformation enriches the student experience while supporting a new generation of advanced, cross-strata research.”
“The extensive Olin Hall renovations radically transformed the building into a truly interdisciplinary space that now hums with daily activity in its laboratories and classrooms,” said Colgate President Brian W. Casey. “This was a complex project, as most renovations of older buildings are, and we are so happy with the final result, thanks to the care and expertise of the team at RAMSA.”
A critical part of Colgate University’s academic enterprise, Olin Hall is home to the Robert H.N. Ho Mind, Brain, and Behavior Center, which opened in 2024 and leverages cutting-edge technology to bridge the natural and social sciences with humanities.
Incorporating glass-walled laboratories, the center gives students and visitors the chance to observe critical research in real time. It includes magnetically and acoustically shielded EEG laboratories and behavioral research suites equipped with observation suites.
Olin Hall’s façade unites the distinct stone palettes of the adjacent Benton Hall and Robert H.N. Ho Science Center into a cohesive whole, carefully blending tones and textures to create visual harmony along the western gateway to Colgate’s campus.
Though the quarry that originally supplied the campus stone for nearby buildings had been depleted, its geologic origins were traced to a quarry in northern Pennsylvania that offered a similar stone.
To achieve Olin Hall’s complementary stone palette, a series of large-scale stone mock-ups were created on site, with adjustments made for color and proportion, including the addition of larger mosaic pieces of stone that echo Olin Hall’s historic variation. Though the façade is fresh, Olin Hall feels fully at home with its surroundings as a seamless addition to Colgate University’s campus fabric.
