NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies

The new NYU SCPS flagship Academic Center includes a gut renovation of the 125,000 GSF, former Fairchild Print Press building in the heart of New York City’s Greenwich Village, originally constructed in late 1940’s. The project scope includes renovation of all floors to provide new classrooms, conference rooms, and administrative spaces; complete replacement of the south building façade; and installation of an all new infrastructure for the facility. The building’s purpose was to consolidate the many degree programs that were previously spread out around the city. Careful renovation and adaptive reuse of the existing building transformed a dark mid-century building into an open, interactive and light filled 21st Century home for the NYU SCPS. The design places an emphasis on flexibility and transparency. The flexibility of spaces accommodate diverse groups of learners while the primarily transparent façade was designed to provide the maximum amount of daylight to the building’s occupants and to create a sense of interaction between the street and life in the building. By replacing the south façade, the goal was to provide SCPS with a new, lasting image in harmony with the community. The design of the new façade is calibrated to the scale of the neighborhood and its overall context. An emphasis on transparency creates a sense of interaction between the street and life in the building. Sunshade devices introduce scale and detail while staggered vertical panels of colored dichroic glass bring an element of whimsy typical in the Greenwich Village streets. In designing the floor fit-outs, every effort was made to capture natural light entering the building from the north and south. Circulation wraps around the central service core and visual axes extend north-south through the building, allowing light to filter into interior spaces. Building upon this strategy, open spaces are located near the transparent south façade while private spaces are pulled away. On the lower levels, the space along the south edge is given to gathering areas for both students and administration. An elliptical staircase rises through a three story open space connecting lobby, lounges and primary classrooms. The design of the new facility embodies the School’s mission to foster lifelong learning, fulfilling the long-held aspirations of NYU-SCPS faculty, staff and generations of students for an identifiable and dedicated teaching, learning, and administrative environment at the University’s main campus. With multi-purpose classrooms and meeting spaces throughout, the new facility is well suited for hosting weekend seminars, student orientations, alumni gatherings and professional and career development events for the NYU- SCPS community. Of even greater enduring importance, the new facility provides exciting opportunities for collaboration across communities and programs, as well as the University at large.