The John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI) is located in the Smith Warehouse adjacent to Duke University’s East Campus and Durham’s downtown. Constructed in 1906 as a tobacco storage warehouse, Smith was acquired by the University and renovated in 2010-11. The FHI occupies the first floors of Bays 4 and 5 of the Warehouse. The facilities were renovated to contain unique collaborative spaces, as well as event venues. In addition to this, the FHI houses over 30 offices for both faculty and staff.

Available Rooms

The Franklin Humanities Institute has multiple rooms which are available for reservation through Duke's 25Live (mobile version) scheduling system. Please review our reservations policy if you plan on making a request for one of the rooms.

The Ahmadieh Family Lecture Hall

A conference room

The main event space in the FHI, the Ahmadieh Family Lecture Hall was constructed as a flexible venue for small to moderately-sized public speaking events, workshops, and conference panels.

Capacity: 50 ; 75 with overflow

  • HD Projector
  • Integrated Computer [Mac]
  • Wireless Microphone System
  • BluRay/DVD Player
  • Panopto Video Recording System

Reserve the Ahmadieh Family Lecture Hall (requires NetID login)

FHI Conference Room

A conference room

The FHI houses a small conference room which is ideal for private meetings, small workshops, and teleconferencing calls.

Capacity: 15

  • HD Monitor
  • Integrated Computer [Mac]
  • Cisco Conferencing Codec
  • Optimized for Web-Based Conferencing (Skype, WebEx)

Reserve the FHI Conference Room (requires NetID login)