The Diana Center, New York

Courtesy Weiss/Manfredi

Courtesy Weiss/Manfredi

Courtesy Weiss/Manfredi

Courtesy Weiss/Manfredi

Courtesy Weiss/Manfredi

Courtesy Weiss/Manfredi

From the caf? in the southeast corner of the ground floor, stude... Read More From the caf? in the southeast corner of the ground floor, students can see up through the slipped atria to a more formal dining area, a reading room, and finally into an art gallery on the fourth floor. The architects branded this series of spaces with tones of red and orange, similar to the tones used in the fa?ade. Much of the furniture was custom designed, including the resin tabletops, which were a collaboration with 3form. The caf? has computer workstations tucked against the west wall; a fritted glass wall encloses the faculty dining room on the second floor, which looks down into the caf? space.

Projecting from the building's west fa?ade is an articulated vol... Read More Projecting from the building's west fa?ade is an articulated volume that is mostly filled with, of all things, a fire stair. A way to add dynamic circulation, the clear vision panels showcase students walking though the corridors. The topmost level of the stair volume houses a lecture room and hides HVAC vents above. The terraced green space can be used for everything from informal gatherings to outdoor performances. The sloping levels were designed to create a smooth transition down to the historic Milbank Hall (Barnard's oldest campus building), which was cut off from the rest of campus when a massive concrete plinth was installed in the 1960s. The restored circulation and sight lines create a more unified campus environment.

The east fa?ade of the new Diana Center stretches along Broadway... Read More The east fa?ade of the new Diana Center stretches along Broadway and gives Barnard the street presence that it has been lacking for nearly 40 years. The fa?ade incorporates terra-cotta-colored glass shadow boxes, panels with a graduated vertical frit, and panels of vision glass, giving an indication of the programs happening within: classrooms, offices, a black-box theater, and event space. But it is the series of four slipped atria (containing a caf?, a dining hall, a reading room, and a gallery) that are the building's defining gesture. "It's a really transformative building for the campus," says Barnard College president Debora Spar. "Our challenge now is to bring the rest of campus up the level of the Diana [Center]."

On the west side of the building, the projecting fire stair is c... Read More On the west side of the building, the projecting fire stair is clad in clear vision glass through which student activity can be seen, creating a dynamic fa?ade. Certain spaces?like the open area in front of the buildings elevator, seen here above the entry doors?have been claimed by students as informal study lounges. Furniture was brought in to accommodate them. "The students are in the building 24 hours," Spar says, "and they've made it their own." At the time of the building's soft opening in fall 2009, much of the break out furniture had intentionally not been ordered. Since most of it was designed by Weiss/Manfredi, the goal was to see how the pieces were used in different spaces, so that the fabrication of the pieces could meet specific needs.

The ramps and switchbacks in the fire-stair volume create not on... Read More The ramps and switchbacks in the fire-stair volume create not only the building's primary circulation, but also an intentionally choreographed sequence of student and faculty interaction. Separated from the inner volume of the building by fire-rated glass, the projecting volume meets all codes for fire egress, and gives students, who spend the bulk of their time indoors, a chance to connect to the rest of campus.

On the building's southwest corner, a projecting volume houses a... Read More On the building's southwest corner, a projecting volume houses a studio space for senior architecture students. Clad in clear vision glass, the room stands out from the rest of the copper-toned fa?ade. Before getting to work in the building, the students had a chance to influence its design. "The color of the building is something we spent a huge amount of time on. We must have gone through hundreds of options," vice president for administration Lisa Gamsu says. "We took full-scale mock-ups and hung them on the lawn and students voted. It was a fun process."

The double-height event oval is tucked into a lower level of the... Read More The double-height event oval is tucked into a lower level of the Diana Center. Available for everything from group yoga classes to alumnae events, it was an integral part of the program from the very beginning. Acoustical material is hidden behind bent wood panels and revealed by milled slats that mimic the pattern of the graduated frit on the curtain wall. For events that fill the space beyond capacity, the rest of the building is equipped with closed-circuit televisions.

In the third-floor reading room, custom-designed, serpentine row... Read More In the third-floor reading room, custom-designed, serpentine rows of carrels, as well as nooks tucked into the west wall, allow for private study. The architects custom-designed the carpet with Bentley Prince Street, and it transitions from deep red tones on the first floor toward oranges and yellows in each ascending atrium. The reading room overlooks the more formal dining area, which doubles as a study lounge in off-hours: "Once the dining service closes, that room stays full," says Gamsu. "Even though it's a double-height space, the proportions feel just right. The visual stimulus is just wonderful, but it's quiet and peaceful."