The Becton Engineering and Science Center at Yale is a behemoth academic building on Prospect Street containing offices, laboratories, a library, and an auditorium for the world-renowned institution. Discussions about a new engineering and science center began in 1965 after a generous donation by Yale alumni, Henry Prentiss Becton, and the University hired famous Modernist architect, Marcel Breuer to design the new building opposite the city’s Grove Street cemetery. For the design, Breuer used precast concrete panels and logical planning, to maximize interior space through the building which required less vertical columns in the floorplates. At the street, an elongated arcade provides views into the interior spaces and serves as a shelter from the weather. The arcade and facade above is supported by stunning buttress-like columns, a Modernist nod to the predominant Gothic buildings and character of Yale’s campus. A landmark example of the Brutalist style, the Becton Center serves as a great, and well-preserved example of an often maligned period of American architecture.
Buildings of New England 