The Yale Peabody Museum’s comprehensive renovations and additions transformed the institution with its first major changes since opening in 1925. Based on over 10 years of master planning, they fulfilled goals to increase Yale student engagement, collections-based teaching, exhibit space, programming potential, and main campus collection capacity while advancing sustainability and preserving Peabody’s character.

Certified LEED Gold, the museum now uses advanced systems to reduce energy, employ natural materials, and minimize the impact of increasingly intense storms with a robust stormwater management system.

With a newly insulated building envelope, its new mechanical systems use energy sustainably while maintaining stringent environmental conditions and reclaiming waste heat. A project energy use intensity of 75 kBtu/sf/year represents a nearly 50% reduction (155 kBtu/sf/year prior to the renewal). This reduction will achieve a net reduction in carbon emissions despite adding more than 55,000-square-feet of new conditioned space. A system of bioswales and underground cisterns conserve and process stormwater on site to divert it from the city sewer system.

Additionally, the Peabody Museum conserves resources through the following means:
• Native planting use less water.
• New insulation retrofit saves energy.
• Double-glazed windows limit heat gain/loss.
• Heat recovery chiller reclaims waste heat.
• LED lighting uses less electricity.
• Bottle fillers discourage bottled water use.
• Low flow water fixtures contribute to a 35% indoor water use reduction.

Featuring metal, glass, stone, and wood, the Peabody was designed to age gracefully and require minimal maintenance. The historically sensitive restoration of the original structure preserves its forms, materials, and character while modifying its stone envelope to manage indoor humidity and temperature critical to protecting ancient artifacts.

The Museum is flooded with natural light where the public gathers and the staff works. Its new Central Gallery is skylit and features an indoor garden of live plants that is tended by a staff biologist. New staff offices occupy a fourth-floor penthouse that offers expansive views of the New Haven skyline through floor-to-ceiling glass walls. A dramatic glass tower, with views of a new courtyard, is home to a new board room. Where technically feasible, exhibit windows feature operable shades to allow natural light. Other strategies to promote wellbeing include outdoor seating areas and improved bike and pedestrian access.
The project encompasses 172,355-square-feet between renovated spaces and new construction. New construction primarily consists of a 57,631-square-foot, four-story infill addition between the Peabody and the neighboring Environmental Science Center.

Category:Green ArchitectureYear:2025Location: New Haven, Connecticut, USAArchitects:Centerbrook Architects and PlannersOriginal Architect:Charles Z. Klauder (1917)Landscape Architects:James Corner Field OperationsGeneral Contractor:Turner Construction CompanyDesign Team:Mark Simon, Andrew Santaniello, David O'Connor, David Petersen, Justin Hedde, Katie Watts; Jim Coan, Aaron Emma, and Sheryl MilardoClient:Yale UniversityImages:Peter Aaron/OTTO