The waterfall by the front door smoothes the edges of murmuring voices and stomping boots as the next wave of students head to class. Bright January sun warms the overstuffed chairs lining the wall of windows. It’s welcome on a cold day. Perfect for catching up on reading.
Further in, bright glass and steel defer to dark wood, stiff-backed chairs, and the marble exterior walls of the Starr Library, built in 1900. The modern expansion of the Axinn Center flows off, and complements, the campus’s fourth-oldest building.
Just as the buildings work together, so too do the departments that reside within—history, English and American literatures, American studies, and film and media culture. As well, the library’s original reading room; the expansive media-editing suites; high-ceilinged lecture halls; tech-packed screening rooms; leather-spine-lined shelves; and film production studios create an elegant mishmash of classic New England and cutting edge.
It’s emblematic of the balance of the building’s namesake, the late Donald Everett Axinn ’51, Mountain Club president, tennis team member, businessman, aviator, poet, novelist, and movie producer.