Pomerene Hall

Location: The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio

Size: 83,640 SF

Completed: 2018

Pomerene Hall, built in 1922, stands as a prime example of collegiate gothic style architecture at The Ohio State University’s scenic Mirror Lake District. Historically, Pomerene Hall served as the Women’s Union and Recreation building. A second phase, constructed in 1927, added a natatorium, lounges, a kitchen, and a refectory. Over the years, the building lost most of this original program.

The masterplan of the project involved both restoring and salvaging several building elements and creating new spaces, including a three-story glass atrium to enclose a once exterior space. The challenge was to harmonize the preservation efforts with a new program and new spaces.

The complexity that comes with matching 100-year-old building materials required the expertise of historians, local artists, and masonry professionals. The new materials were matched exactly and sustain identical detail, color, texture and form. To maintain the building’s identity, ornate wood doors, the ballroom wood paneling, the gymnasium floors, detailed plaster ceilings, stained glass light fixtures, brick and limestone were all restored for continued use.  Through close attention to detail, the new construction and restoration recaptured the quality of the original building phases.

Pomerene Hall is now home to the Data Analytics Department, History of Art Department, Transitional Data Analytics Institute and the Mirror Lake Eatery. New interior configurations inspired these new uses while also maintaining the building’s original character, modernized to support research and innovation.