Center of attention: out of a 19th-century carriage house, a GLBT student center rises at the University of Pennsylvania. (culture).

Even buildings can come out of the closet. An 1877 carriage house in Philadelphia, now transformed into a home base for queer students at the University of Pennsylvania by out architect Belmont Freeman, illustrates the point.

Carriage houses--the garages of the horse-and-buggy age--tend to hide on the margins of the urban streetscape. But this one announces its new, proud incarnation with modern insertions in its rehabilitated facade, where coolly translucent glass panels hint at a dramatic minimalism within.

The carriage house's unexpectedly modern interior is only fitting for its new role as home of the university's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center. The design declares rebellion against Ivy League traditionalism--and specifically that of its campus neighbor, the overstuffed and wood-paneled Houston Hall student center recently renovated by postmodern architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

"We very deliberately wanted something that was a fresher, more modern, antiestablishment aesthetic," says architect Freeman. "That's why we went for the rough and raw materials and the sleek, modern furniture." Downstairs, the original carriage doors, fitted with glass, open into a lobby and sunken student lounge. Here, original structural details as well as mechanical systems exposed overhead underscore Freeman's disciplined material palette of maple, concrete, glass, and blackened steel.

At the top of the concrete-and-perforated-steel stairway, the mood warms as original random-width yellow-pine floors replace poured concrete. The purpose here is more intimate: While any campus organization can book the public rooms for an event, upstairs space is reserved for the LGBT Center's library and office spaces for both staff and student groups.

Robert Schoenberg, executive director of the LGBT Center since 1982, remarks that the second-floor layout permits students to interact freely with staff members. "It's a very congenial atmosphere," he says.

Indeed, the concept and execution have all taken place within the University of Pennsylvania family. Freeman earned his master's degree in architecture from Penn in 1976, and a $2 million donation from alumni David Good-hand and Vincent Griski prompted the facility's move from a 650-square-foot third-floor office into the 6,000-square-foot carriage house.

A generation ago, it would have been inconceivable to emphasize openness and transparency in designing this space, says Freeman. "When I was a student in Philadelphia, the gay bars there were all these back-alley affairs," he says. "So there's something rich about a gay and lesbian center at Penn being one of these classic back buildings that not only serves as a nucleus of residential life but also represents that the kids are out and quite visible on campus."

Schoenberg agrees. "Obviously, this building and our services are indication that Penn is a progressive and supportive place," he says. Still, it's understood that some students are still growing comfortable with their sexuality. For them, the building offers a second, less conspicuous entrance on the center's north side. "There is a less prominent entrance, though no less grand," Schoenberg observes. "It can be seen as protection."

Sokol has written for Architectural Record, Metropolis, and Preservation.