The Wheeler High School Nulman Lewis Student Center is designed by Ann Beha Architects, This small Student Center is a hub and hinges for The Wheeler High School’s urban campus in Providence, RI. The campus is constrained by its property size, limited green space, and location within a historic neighborhood. Composed of solid, institutional brick buildings and converted residential structures, the campus faces inward, with its back turned to the community. The Nulman Lewis Student Center sets a different course: transparent, welcoming, and decidedly contemporary. It is the new arrival portal, facing and welcoming the community.Photography: David Lamb PhotographyThe setting and neighborhood may have assumed that a traditional building would be the only appropriate answer for its context, but this building looks forward, advancing contemporary design expression within a historical context. Programs for student centers can be expansive and expensive. With only a 5,000 sqf footprint, this modest connective building has helped make adjacent spaces more useful to the school program. The selected site, a former maintenance, and dumpster area, now strengthen a campus edge and creates a connection to the enlarged campus courtyard. The new building links two historic buildings, the Alumni House and Student Union, and provides the easy passage along a new campus spine.Photography: David Lamb PhotographyEvery school day, over 1,000 students enter this structure, a...