In a new letter to faculty members at the Pratt School of Architecture, second-year Dean Quilian Riano has outlined the need for some $71 million worth of deferred maintenance and other upgrades to the 155-year-old Higgins Hall in keeping with the new Local Law 97 mandate for net zero operating capacity by 2050. This includes $57 million for maintenance and upgrades, plus an additional $14 million to increase the electrical capacity.

Local Law 97 requires new energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions limits, with a goal of a 40% reduction by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. Additionally, Higgins Hall has maxed out its Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and electrical capacity.

As a result, Riano said, the school must expand into a new building to accommodate its growing student body. A Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) will now be issued to developers. This process will explore leveraging Pratt Institute’s air rights to build housing, including affordable housing, and deliver a world-class architecture school building at the corner of DeKalb and Classon Avenues. The goal is to create a 140,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility. 

Riano wrote: “I am excited about this potential building project. I am excited that we can deliver to our faculty and students a space to meet their needs for technological, building, planting, and planning innovations. You are changing the way we teach with more collective studios, with increased experimentation, and with full-scale building studies becoming much more common and we as a community deserve spaces to do this important work.”

The school will continue towards its goal with a specially formed faculty committee that will address “programming and pedagogic needs.” A meeting will be called at the start of the Fall 2024 semester to discuss the project as Riano gathers independent input over the course of the summer. Pratt Institute's School of Architecture celebrates its 70th anniversary this year and has occupied Main, South, and part of East Hall on the main campus, as well as Higgins Hall, since its formation in 1954.