Through Creative Space-Making, 221 Whitney Emerges as Yale's Services Hub

YPS News Monday, February 23, 2026

A redesigned workspace is building community, flexibility, and a more sustainable approach to campus.

In the summer of 2024, after 64 years of service to the Yale community, Helen Hadley Hall was decommissioned and closed. This decision was made, in part, due to changing preferences regarding space as more students began to prioritize apartment-style living over dorms. Opened in 1959, Helen Hadley Hall was the first residence hall built for female students in the graduate and professional schools at Yale. Its closure, however, meant that staff with offices in the building needed somewhere to relocate.

Meanwhile, not far down the street, 221 Whitney Avenue—what many considered the “HR building” that houses Yale’s Human Resources team—found itself with available space and staff distributed unevenly across its six floors.

“Many people were just coming in a couple days a week. Often the building felt empty, and it seemed that a lot of people were doing things on Zoom,” said Susan Riggs, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources Operations.

Photo of the exterior of 221 Whitney — Exterior of 221 Whitney. Image Source: New Haven Building Archive.

Just as student tastes in living arrangements have shifted, the increased flexibility offered by hybrid work has shifted staff needs. The coinciding changes at Helen Hadley Hall and 221 Whitney offered an opportunity to rethink how offices can best support the community.

“If space is sitting fallow, we’re still heating and cooling it. So, the more we can optimize space, the better it is for sustainability,” said Robert Ferretti, Yale’s Director of Parking, Transit, and Fleet Management.

To increase the performance of the space and encourage team building, the idea of moving more offices from around campus, including those lost during Helen Hadley Hall’s closure, started to become a reality in May 2024.

By the end of that year, numerous teams had joined HR in 221 Whitney.

The Yale Graduate Housing Office, Undergraduate Housing, the Parking Office, and the Office of Faculty Administrative Services all moved in or expanded. The Yale ID Center and Public Safety Office are also slated to relocate there.

The reimagining of 221 Whitney is part of ongoing efforts to support collaboration and sustainability across campus.

“It’s becoming a services hub for campus,” said Nathan Lubich, Director of Yale Housing, an office that relocated into 221 from Helen Hadley Hall. “It will make it a lot easier for new employees, which is a blessing. Yale does siloes really well, and it’s good to break that down a little bit.”

So, how did they do it? The plan was to free up floors 2 and 3 by consolidating HR to floors 1, 4, 5, and 6. This meant creating shared workspaces so that the folks who came into the office on Mondays and Tuesdays, for example, could use the same desks as those who came in on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

“It began with a conversation with Paul Greeley, the Senior Director of Facilities Operations and Space Management at the Med School, who helped create new space at 2 Science Park,” said Susan. “We talked a lot about the transition and creating shared workspaces instead of hoteling or hot desking.”

To address hesitations staff had about sharing desks, HR hosted numerous community meetings to answer questions.

“The concerns people had never really materialized,” said Susan. “But those meetings got the feelings out of everyone’s systems, and we were honest about learning as we go.”

In addition to talking about the change, thoughtful upgrades were implemented to make it work for everyone. First, universal set-ups were added to all the office spaces, making them Mac and PC compatible with two monitors (and Clorox wipes!). Huddle rooms received the same treatment with the addition of flexible workspaces and creation of a map indicating the capabilities of each space. The HR team created documents on how to plug into the new workstations and tips for sharing a desk. In addition, they updated several conference rooms with better Zoom equipment.

Two staff members play pool — Grand Opening event and United Way fundraiser

As a result of the new setups, leftover equipment, like docking stations, monitors, keyboards, and mouses, was offered to staff for their home workstations.

On the non-technical side, HR organized community events that added fun to the transition. People were asked to introduce themselves to their desk-mates and leave each other welcome notes, and updated signage was added to desks to indicate when people would be where.

“There was a computer lab from back in the day and we hauled all the computers out and recycled them. So, when the Graduate Housing Office moved in, they brought their pool table,” said Susan. “Now, the space has a couch, the pool table, puzzles, and two screens for workshops. It’s popular for team meetings and retreats.”

A retirement celebration for a long-service employee at 221 Whitney

“HR has done a lot of really cool stuff, including coworking spaces in the basement,” said Nathan. “We had to work out some kinks, some growing pains, but HR has been very gracious. I hope the crossover only increases positive experiences and that the social events and atmosphere boost morale.”

The teams in 221 Whitney hope that other units on campus can benefit from what they’ve learned through this process, especially the recognition that space is personalized.

Having representatives from each team in meetings about the space who could make recommendations on behalf of their colleagues was essential.

“Messaging that we’re heading toward shared spaces is going to be hard and odd at first,” said Susan. “You want to over-communicate and acknowledge that we’re going to test and learn and be fluid together.”

As staff adjusted to the new model, more people began catching each other in the hall for spontaneous conversations, and the building began to feel more lively.

“Parking is a very small team, and it’s been good to build relationships and partnerships with more people on campus and have more social events, which we were lacking before,” said Robert. “There are United Way fundraisers and lots of team-building events. HR is really good at organizing and hosting, so it’s very welcoming.”

“Eventually, it became funny with how people who share workspaces wanted to decorate or personalize their spaces together and make jokes about it,” said Bridgett LaFountain, Senior Director of Employee Relations. “You think at first, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to take down my pictures and this and that,’ but you realize it’s okay. You can keep your art up or your pictures. It was important for me to make sure whoever else was sitting in this space felt welcome.”