Barnard College Moves Ahead with New Teaching and Learning Center Designed by SOM
After much deliberation, Barnard College’s administration announced plans last year to build a new teaching and learning center at the heart of its four-acre campus in Morningside Heights. Now with demolition of the former library nearly complete, groundwork and excavation for the new 11-story structure will soon begin.
The upcoming 128,000-square-foot interdisciplinary building is being designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and will incorporate several tiers of terraces to increase outdoor access for students and faculty. The 189-foot-tall structure aspires to become the college’s hub of academic and intellectual life and will feature an updated and expanded library, a digital commons with five teaching labs, and a computational science center that will connect to the adjacent Altschul Hall. All three of the resources will utilize new media and digital technologies to enhance student learning methods.
In addition to the library and labs, the new center will also include an expanded conference facility, workspace and offices for four different academic departments, and it will be the future home of both the Athena Center for Leadership Studies and the Barnard Center for Research on Women. Once complete in the summer of 2018, the teaching and learning center will service hundreds of students and promote an interactive learning environment ideal for the Barnard community.
Image courtesy of CityRealty
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All renderings © Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
