Science Library for Columbia University
NJIT M.Arch Comprehensive Studio
The Science Library for Columbia University is designed as a Southeast anchor point for the new Manhattanville Campus that seeks to integrate the West Harlem community and mediate between the new scale of the proposed campus and the existing scale of the neighborhood. Two sets of axes define the form of each type of user’s space and one volume (containing the community’s amenities) essentially becomes a building inside another building (the university’s library), each with its own circulation path. Users are brought together under the roof of the large glass atrium, as well as interrupt each other where floor plates overlap, reflecting the struggles inherent in the conception and development of the new campus as well as the possibilities for integration of the two communities.