entered around Manhattan's Washington Square Park, New York University's campus exists within a dense mix of traditional and modern buildings. Because of this urban campus, the school's various programs are dispersed across a number of separate buildings, each functioning with far less space than the University's peer institutions. Based on University planning studies, NYU needed to increase space for faculty and students to strengthen its academic culture. In addition to more classrooms, the University needed specialized space for its renowned performing arts programs, student and faculty housing, and athletic facilities. Working in collaboration with Davis Brody Bond, KieranTimberlake designed a building on the campus's southern edge that would graciously accommodate NYU's academic needs, embody its character and vibrancy, and offer new ways for the University to engage with its own community and the larger city of New York.

FOSTERING CONNECTIONS

Designed to optimize interactions between diverse student groups and academic disciplines, the LEED Gold-certified John A. Paulson Center at 181 Mercer includes classrooms, informal study spaces, performing arts theaters, rehearsal and practice rooms, varsity sports arenas, a recreational sports gymnasium, and a café, as well as faculty and first-year student housing. Each of these spaces is organized into unique “neighborhoods,” all of which are connected to an open and expansive commons that provides collaborative study, meeting, and gathering places.