The Denning House is in the heart of the Stanford campus and the convening hub for the new community of Knight-Hennessy Scholars. The building houses and integrates the 300 Knight-Hennessy Scholars within the Stanford graduate community of 9,000 students and contains dining and food service facilities, multipurpose lecture spaces, and section discussion rooms.

Degenkolb worked closely with an out-of-state architect to design the new two-story 18,000 s.f building. Degenkolb’s work involved identifying site, geotechnical, and structural constraints and establishing structural design criteria required by the Code and Stanford’s Seismic Engineering Guidelines. Degenkolb then conducted preliminary through final design of the structure working to within a defined construction budget. Some of the special structural features include long span exposed Glulam beams at the roof level that create the large dining area on the second floor. Also, a grand signature steel staircase seamlessly weaves both the architectural design with structural requirements. Lastly two large wood screens are hung from the roof at either ends of the building creating intricate shade structures

The building is wood framed with very large open and tall spaces and features tall glass windows with a strong connection to the outdoors.  The project used sustainably harvested timber and formed a unique curved/warped roof framed from conventional lumber. The Denning House is in an area of dense oak trees, and the use of timber throughout helps the building blend in with the natural setting.

Awards:

•  AIA Silicon Valley Design Award Residential/Merit Design Award

Features:

• Dining and food service facilities
• Multipurpose lecture space
• Section discussion rooms

Benefits:

• Home of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program.