New York University has recently revealed the design of a new $1 billion development comprising a gym, a swimming pool, performance theaters, and classrooms at 181 Mercer Street. The 735,000-sf building will include a variety of academic facilities and be topped by faculty and student housing towers, TheRealDeal.com reports.
An all-glass façade allows people to see directly into the hallways and staircases that circle the perimeter of the structure. The building will be about 300 feet long and sit on what is dubbed a ‘super block.’
There will be 58 general-purpose classrooms and the largest theater will be able to seat 350 people. Additionally, the new building will house NYU’s first orchestral ensemble room. 7,500 sf of the project will be used for a public atrium and community events.
NYU is excited about the proposed building, but others have taken issue with it. Neighborhood activists worry that the building will be an eyesore and the land the project is designated for should instead be used for a park. Despite these protests, a court decision in 2015 gave the development the all clear to move forward.
Currently, the Coles Sports and Recreation building is in the process of being demolished to make room for the new building. This phase is expected to be completed in early February 2017. Excavation, which includes the removal of existing foundation, rock, and soil, will then begin and continue for about seven months. After that, foundation work will continue through late 2018. Enclosure of the building is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2020. Finally, interior construction and landscaping will take place, with the entire project scheduled for completion in late 2021.
Davis Brody Bond and KieranTimberlake are the architects for the project. Turner Construction Co. is the contractor.
Rendering courtesy of StudioAMD
Rendering courtesy of StudioAMD
Related Stories
Mass Timber | May 1, 2023
SOM designs mass timber climate solutions center on Governors Island, anchored by Stony Brook University
Governors Island in New York Harbor will be home to a new climate-solutions center called The New York Climate Exchange. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), The Exchange will develop and deploy solutions to the global climate crisis while also acting as a regional hub for the green economy. New York’s Stony Brook University will serve as the center’s anchor institution.
University Buildings | Apr 24, 2023
Solving complicated research questions in interdisciplinary facilities
University and life science project owners should consider the value of more collaborative building methods, close collaboration with end users, and the benefits of partners who can leverage sector-specific knowledge to their advantage.
Green | Apr 21, 2023
Top 10 green building projects for 2023
The Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex in Boston and the Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis are among the AIA COTE Top Ten Awards honorees for 2023.
K-12 Schools | Apr 18, 2023
ASHRAE offers indoor air quality guide for schools
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has released a guide for educators, administrators, and school districts on indoor air quality. The guide can be used as a tool to discuss options to improve indoor air quality based on existing HVAC equipment, regional objectives, and available funding.
K-12 Schools | Apr 13, 2023
Creating a sense of place with multipurpose K-12 school buildings
Multipurpose buildings serve multiple program and functional requirements. The issue with many of these spaces is that they tend not to do any one thing well.
Urban Planning | Apr 12, 2023
Watch: Trends in urban design for 2023, with James Corner Field Operations
Isabel Castilla, a Principal Designer with the landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations, discusses recent changes in clients' priorities about urban design, with a focus on her firm's recent projects.
Market Data | Apr 11, 2023
Construction crane count reaches all-time high in Q1 2023
Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Denver top the list of U.S/Canadian cities with the greatest number of fixed cranes on construction sites, according to Rider Levett Bucknall's RLB Crane Index for North America for Q1 2023.
University Buildings | Apr 11, 2023
Supersizing higher education: Tracking the rise of mega buildings on university campuses
Mega buildings on higher education campuses aren’t unusual. But what has been different lately is the sheer number of supersized projects that have been in the works over the last 12–15 months.
Contractors | Apr 10, 2023
What makes prefabrication work? Factors every construction project should consider
There are many factors requiring careful consideration when determining whether a project is a good fit for prefabrication. JE Dunn’s Brian Burkett breaks down the most important considerations.
Smart Buildings | Apr 7, 2023
Carnegie Mellon University's research on advanced building sensors provokes heated controversy
A research project to test next-generation building sensors at Carnegie Mellon University provoked intense debate over the privacy implications of widespread deployment of the devices in a new 90,000-sf building. The light-switch-size devices, capable of measuring 12 types of data including motion and sound, were mounted in more than 300 locations throughout the building.
