State-of-the-Art Student Center for Columbia - Columbia University opens new Alfred Lerner Hall - Brief Article

Art in America, Dec, 1999 by David Ebony

New York's Columbia University recently opened its new Alfred Lerner Hall, a 225,000-square-foot student center designed by architect Bernard Tschumi, dean of the university's school of architecture. Initiated with a $25-million donation from businessman and Columbia alumnus Alfred Lerner, the $85-million project is Tschumi's first U.S. building. The 55-year-old Swissborn French architect is known for monumental European projects such as Paris's 125-acre Parc de la Villette and Le Fresnoy National Center for the Contemporary Arts near Lille.

Working in association with Gruzen Samton Architects, Tschumi created a sleek, modernist structure of brick, glass and steel for the Columbia site at Broadway and 115th Street. which contrasts with the nearby 19th-century Neo-Classical McKim, Mead and White buildings. One of the most striking features of the new student center is the Glass Court, a five-stow atrium flanked on one side by a 104-foot-wide and 60-foot-high wall made of 105 glass panels. Near the wall is a set of cantilevered ramps anchored to the ceiling by wire cables like an arrangement of suspension bridges. On the outside, the glass panels reflect the surrounding buildings and lawn, while the atrium interior offers a full view across Low Plaza, one of the campus's principal focal points, to the imposing Low Memorial Library situated on the far side.

The building's two wings contain numerous offices for student clubs, the student-run radio station, a mail center featuring a wall of 7,000 mailboxes, a restaurant, a banking center, a travel agency, a computer lab and a bookstore. Other features include a 1,500-seat auditorium, an area for art exhibitions and a 3,900-square-foot soundproofed nightclub/lounge where rock bands can play at full volume without disturbing other areas of the building. While students with proper ID may enter the premises from the plaza side of the structure, a box office located on Broadway provides limited public access to the building for certain performances and events.

Tschumi is currently working on his second American building, a new school of architecture for Miami's Florida International University. His plans for a private villa in The Hague were recently featured in the Museum of Modern Art's touring exhibition "The Un-Private House," which appears at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in May.