Peter B. Lewis Gateway Center

corner view of the Gateway Center in downtown Oberlin.
The main entrance of the Peter B. Lewis Gateway Center at the corner of East College Street in downtown Oberlin.
Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

The Peter B. Lewis Gateway Center is a highly sustainable, four-story, mixed-use building that serves as the front door to the city of Oberlin and the Oberlin College campus. It is the first building to be realized within a larger, 13-acre Green Arts District. The exterior design is contemporary and uses simple materials of glass, aluminum and wood, many of which are either salvaged or recycled.

Building systems are designed to adapt to future connections with other Green Arts District buildings and to increase efficiency and maximize flexibility. Along with the Hotel at Oberlin, the Gateway Center earned a LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, the highest standard for sustainability. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. Project leaders sought LEED Platinum classification, Net-Zero energy consumption, and Net-Zero carbon production. 

The building presently includes the 70-suite Hotel at Oberlin, the William and Helen Birenbaum Innovation and Performance Space, the Clyde McGregor ’74 Office of Admissions, the 1833 Restaurant, the Gertrude B. Lemle Teaching Center, and the Oberlin Center for Convergence (StudiOC).