1/8
Overview of street level with orange entry threshold, clamp-on web kiosks, and info wall rack for catalogs. Opened Fifth Avenue façade maximizes daylight into main space. © Brendan Austin
2/8
Preserved and exposed existing cast iron columns, rivoted beams and wood trusses contrast new architectural elements within. In foreground, a clamp-on web kiosk.
3/8
View of monitor beam with Fifth Avenue beyond. © Brendan Austin
4/8
Entry threshold with security desk in foreground and info desk beyond.
5/8
Rendered plan illustrating the six primary programmatic elements that frame the space with information: entry/security threshold, double-sided monitor beam, info desk, web kiosks, wall map+cantilevered info rack, and lightbox graphic wall.
6/8
Cantilevered, pivoting info rack with magnetic display for The New School's catalogs, brochures, and other promotional materials.
7/8
Layers of information about The New School as seen from Fifth Avenue including monitor beam, web kiosks, and lightbox graphic wall. © Brendan Austin
8/8
Lightbox graphic wall: sliding access panel.

THE NEW SCHOOL WELCOME CENTER

The New School, The New School, New York, NY

The Welcome Center operates as an active information hub serving students and visitors to The New School’s Greenwich Village campus. R+L invented a series of contemporary architectural apparatuses that frame the space and display varied layers of information for prospective students to explore.

A double-sided monitor beam spans across enlarged perimeter windows and displays a promotional video across twelve LCD screens visible to both outside and inside. Steel clamp-on internet stations and brochure display/storage armatures activate the Center’s interior and foreground a lightbox wall displaying urban-scale identity graphics highly visible to the street. These elements, along with a bright entry/security threshold, and a silver reception/stair element accessing the university’s advising (above) and financial offices (below) compliment the raw shell space, which R+L stripped bare to expose original cast iron and wood elements.

Lyn Rice, principal and Astrid Lipka, associate principal
Ivan Chabra, project architect
Steven Y.N. Chen, project designer/leader
Billy Garcia, Anne-Rachel Schiffmann, designers

Executive Architects
Cooper Robertson & Partners

Structural Engineering
Robert Silman Associates

MEP/FP Engineering
HKA

Lighting Consultant
Tillotson Design Associates

AV Consultant
Cerami

Security Consultant
Ducibella Venter & Santore Security Consulting and Engineering