Saturday, June 16, 2007

Columbia University in the City of New York: Manhattanville in West Harlem




Columbia University in the City of New York:
Manhattanville in West Harlem







Welcome (en español)


As new fields of knowledge emerge, the nation's universities are growing in order to have the physical space needed to pursue the missions of teaching, research, public service, and patient care. Because Columbia University is dedicated to fulfilling its role as a globally respected academic institution that is also committed to the economic, intellectual, social, and cultural vitality of its local community, it has proposed long-term expansion in the old Manhattanville manufacturing zone in West Harlem.

This 17-acre area of Upper Manhattan is just north of Columbia's historic Morningside Heights campus and consists primarily of the four large blocks from 129th to 133rd Streets between Broadway and 12th Avenue (see map), including the north side of 125th Street, as well as three properties on the east side of Broadway from 131st to 134th Streets.

The goal of a comprehensive proposal limited to these blocks is to move away from past ad-hoc growth of University buildings and instead create a wisely thought-out, transparent, predictable plan for the next quarter century that gradually creates a new kind of urban academic environment that is woven into the fabric of the surrounding community. This would produce more than 6.8 million square feet of space for teaching, research, underground parking, and support services, while creating new facilities for civic, cultural, recreational, and commercial activity—as well as improved pedestrian-friendly streets and new publicly accessible open spaces—that reconnect West Harlem to the new Hudson River waterfront park now under construction. This kind of smart growth would not only generate thousands of new University jobs, but also result in many more local economic opportunities in the decades ahead.


News
Rezoning Application for Manhattanville Expansion Proposal Certified (pdf)

Expansion Proposal Selected for Environmentally Sustainable Design Program (pdf)

Former Mayor David Dinkins in the New York Times (pdf)

University Selects Construction Management Firm to Guide Proposed Expansion Process (pdf)

Full Scope of Rezoning and Academic Mixed-use Development (pdf, 278 pages)


Public Notice of Test Borings in Proposed Project Area (pdf)


Read a letter from Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger.-->

Manhattanville Video Tour
View a video tour of the proposed expansion site in the old Manhattanville manufacturing zone in West Harlem.


View a series of slide shows describing Columbia's proposal:
Design Principles
The slide shows and the video tour require the Flash plug-in. Download it here.
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