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 putatively 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. Trump has since accused Bollinger of being a moron when it comes to real estate development, touting instead what he thinks are the merits of what he called the "Columbia Prime" campus that would have been built on his land.

In the summer of 2003, President Bollinger announced the University's intention to build an extension/satellite campus in Manhattanville, an effort which would require the university buying out a substantial chunk of private property.

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. To appease the neighborhood association, which challenged the Columbia vision and even offered its own development plan, Columbia engaged in several mitigation projects, including the establishment of the Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science, and Engineering.

The bigger obstacle were Manhattan's holdout propertyowners. A long series of court battles over the right to take their land by eminent domain 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 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. Part of the reason for this is that Columbia plans to operate a vast, subterranean service facility underneath the new campus, eliminating the need for surface-level deliveries or utilities.

Among the master plan's stated goals are the preservation of freedom of movement along the axes that were formerly the neighborhood's streets. As such, the new campus will be much more open to the surrounding neighborhood than the fortress-like confines of its Morningside Heights predecessor. A large swathe of quad-like open space will occupy its center.

Glassy, modern architecture appears set to be the new campus' dominant style. Current plans call for the first phase of construction to include new space for the:

• Business School (in a building to be designed by au courant architects

Diller Scofidio + Renfro)

• 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.

While Columbia plans to demolish most existing buildings in the neighborhood, a few will remain. The Studebaker Building will serve as the campus' historic centerpiece, and will continue to house Columbia administrators, making the Studebaker akin to Morningside Heights' Low Library. Prentis Hall, adjacent to Manhattanville and already classroom space for the School of the Arts, will likely be expanded.

Renderings

Early plans

• 

  Initial Manhattanville campus plan

• 

  View of Broadway following the campus' completion

• 

  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

• 

  Plans for Phase One construction of the new campus

• 

  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

• 

  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