Inside the skylight, a steel beam conceals uplighting that illuminates the skylight at night. Throughout the space, Mackey Mitchell selected restrained materials in order to create a relaxing, albeit fun, atmosphere. Natural maple wood was used judiciously to ensure warmth. The promenade of columns that frames the hall and supports the rubber membrane roof also reinforces the notion that this is an aesthetic, as well as an actual, bridge between two buildings. So, students used the quickest route possible to go from one building to the other and that was out the back door of the dorm and in the loading dock of the school building.
Light enters the hall in a number of different ways.
The predominant source is a glass curtain wall that provides natural light and helps maintain reference points to the dormitory. All of the glass is tinted and a perforated aluminum sun shade is attached to the exterior. Inserted in the glass is a wood panel that, according to Mackey, will someday become space for hanging artwork or possibly a timeline of the medical school's history. Another important source of light is the yellow cone-shaped skylight that seems to float above the dining pavilion. Made of steel and drywall, the skylight is the hall's anchor, much the same way a fireplace might anchor a living room.