Manhattanville campus

Cover of the Jester depicting a stained glass allegory of God sending an angel to present the plans for the Manhattanville expansion to PrezBo and Robert Kasdin

The Manhattanville campus is a 17 acre planned development in the Manhattanville neighborhood of Manhattan, an area bound by 125th and 133rd Streets between Broadway and 12th Avenue. 6.8 million square feet of space will be built in phases, planned to be complete by 2030.

History

In terms of square footage per student, Columbia is not only dead last in the Ivy League, but the next-most space-crunched school, Harvard, still has twice the space per student that Columbia does, while Yale and Princeton have three times the space.

The need for space was so acute by the early 2000s that Columbia was exploring plans for a far-flung new campus. One plan that nearly came to fruit was for a new campus on the Hudson River near Lincoln Center, on land owned by Donald Trump, which would have included space for the Business School and a School for the Performing Arts (part of the School of the Arts today). But Trustee Alfred Lerner, who was negotiating the deal, fell sick, and President Bollinger nixed the plan, seeking land that would be nearer to and more cohesive with the Morningside Heights campus.

In the summer of 2003, President Bollinger announced the University's intention to build an extension/satellite campus in Manhattanville.

Naturally, the plan has been somewhat controversial, seeing as it involves the prospect of very scary things like gentrification and eminent domain, since Columbia has not been able to purchase all the neighborhood's land. A long series of court battles over the latter issue potentially ended in 2010 with a ruling in Columbia's favor by the New York Court of Appeals, the highest in New York State, but the issue is still potentially appealable to the U.S. Supreme Court. Nevertheless, the first round of demolitions of existing buildings on Columbia property is underway.

Plans

Columbia has retained world renowned architect Renzo Piano to lay the master plan for the expansion, a plan which President Bollinger has insisted must be implemented either in whole or not at all.

Current plans call for the first phase of construction to include new space for:

• Business School
• School of the Arts
• School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (slated to be open sometime after 2015)
• School of International and Public Affairs
• Jerome L. Greene Science Center
• Columbia Science, Math and Engineering Secondary School

The first four schools on the list will move in whole from their current spaces on the Morningside Heights campus, while the Greene Science Center is a new institute, and CSS is currently housed in a local public school.

Renderings

Early plans

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  Initial Manhattanville campus plan

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  View of Broadway following the campus' completion

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  Early rendering of a future 125th Street; the curved building was an early design for the future School of the Arts

• 

  Initial rendering of the Jerome L. Greene Science Center

Current plans

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  Plans for Phase One construction of the new campus

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  Planned buildout of the campus by 2030

• 

  View of the future Jerome L. Greene Science Center from Broadway

• 

  Future view of 130th Street running through the campus

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  Future view down 131st Street from Broadway

Map

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External links

• Jerome L. Greene Science Center Press Release
• Manhattanville in West Harlem (Columbia's information site)
• The Student Coalition on Expansion and alternative perspectives on Columbia's plan

Manhattanville FAQ - Why does Columbia need more space?