A peek into the future: Edward P. Evans Hall

Take 4 million pounds of steel, 16.2 million pounds of concrete, 2.25 million pounds of glass, 123 miles of copper wire and 500 doors. Mix them using the latest in “green construction” materials and practices. Set the result on a 4.25-acre plot on the northern end of the Yale campus.

And, voila! You have Edward P. Evans Hall, which will serve as the home for the Yale School of Management (SOM) when completed in the next two years.

Construction is well underway on the 242,000-square-foot structure, which is located on the east side of Whitney Avenue at the intersection with Sachem Street. The building, which features a glass façade, was designed by Foster + Partners, the firm chaired by Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate Lord Norman Foster ARCH ‘62.

Edward P. Evans Hall will house state-of-the-art classrooms, faculty offices, academic centers, and student and meeting spaces organized around an enclosed courtyard — all intended to create a teaching and learning environment that will support the school’s innovative integrated M.B.A. curriculum and enhance the Yale SOM community.

At its center will be the courtyard, which will act as the heart of the school, providing outdoor space to study and socialize. Other key features will include the 350-seat Zhang Lei ‘02 Auditorium, the Wilbur L. Ross Library, a dining commons and coffee shop, a student gym, and the Beinecke Terrace Room, a lecture hall/entertainment space with an outdoor terrace providing views of landscaped gardens in the rear of the campus.

At the official groundbreaking for the campus on April 26, President Richard C. Levin predicted that the new campus will be the “last ingredient in taking SOM to the very top of business schools in the U.S. and around the world.” Until now, he said, the school’s campus — a collection of renovated mansions joined to modern buildings — has constricted Yale SOM’s growth.

“The new campus is going to be first class in every way,” Levin said. “We will be able to move forward with tremendous energy and look forward to occupying the building as fast as we can build it.”

Click here for an audio slideshow about the building.