Duke University
Reuben-Cooke Building

Designed by the Philadelphia firm of Horace Trumbauer and celebrated African-American designer Julian Abele, the Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke building honors one of the first five Black undergraduates in Duke’s first desegregated class in 1963 and her extraordinary career. The building was among the first to be constructed on Duke’s West Campus. Originally housing the Botany and Zoology departments, Reuben-Cooke was originally designed with large classrooms and lab spaces throughout the building, but the spaces were infilled and subdivided into smaller program areas over time.

Annum’s revitalization transforms the Reuben-Cooke building into a place of welcome, inviting students, faculty, staff, and visitors to engage and collaborate in a modern and technology-rich interior. Preserving and upgrading the iconic collegiate-gothic exterior, the renovation provides a new home for the Department of Sociology and the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience.

Collaborating with Durham-based O’Brien Atkins, the design opens the interior with increased transparency and daylight, fostering a welcoming environment and providing space for collaboration. Creating an accessible and sustainable building that connects, serves, and welcomes all, is a tribute to the inspirational legacy of Ms. Reuben-Cooke.