Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University

Serving as the hub of artistic creativity, Duke University’s Rubenstein Arts Center, a.k.a The Ruby, provides a flexible collaborative space for students, faculty and other visitors. 

The 71,000 SF LEED Silver building consists of a steel structure with a polished, architectural precast concrete façade and glass. Seeking to complement the color, texture and materiality in the campus precinct, the buff-colored precast concrete is accented with a continuous 13 ½” wide black polished band that has an inset of ½”.

Precast concrete helped the center achieve its LEED certification because of its use of recycled and regional materials. Additionally, the precast concrete panels were produced in GATE’s Oxford, NC facility, located roughly an hour from the center’s location. This saved transit time as well as on-site work hours, which greatly limited environmental disruption and impact. 

 

AWARDS

• (2022) National AIA Interior Architecture Honor Award
• (2021) USITT Architecture Merit Award
• (2020) National AIA-CAE/SCUP Excellence in Architecture for a New Building Award Honorable Mention
• (2019) BSA Higher Education Facilities Design Honor Award
• (2018) AIA New England Design Awards: Honor Award
• (2018) BSA Design Excellence Honor Award
• (2018) Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award

LOCATION
Durham, NC

ARCHITECT
William Rawn Associates

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