New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Tisch Hall

After deciding to rebrand, NYU’s Stern School of Business invited the architect to help rethink the tower floors of its undergraduate building, Tisch Hall.

Beyond its attractive red stone facade, the interior of Philip Johnson’s 1972 Tisch Hall was designed for efficiency with emphasis on endurance and vandal resistance. Interior partitions were painted concrete masonry units; elevator lobbies were physically separated from the areas they served; and accessibility to views and natural light was limited to perimeter offices. The building’s interior felt claustrophobic with a defensive attitude.

Through discussions with NYU, it became clear that rebranding the tower’s interior required three major moves: establish light and transparency as physical and symbolic themes; create interior spaces that reflect design trends in professional and financial institutions; and leverage NYU’s unique urban setting to the fullest extent possible.

Tisch Hall is a tower, so the stacked floors create a vertical campus; each floor houses discrete program areas. To maintain consistency, a universal design program was established:

•Use interior glazing to maximize exterior views and enable natural light to penetrate deep into the building’s core.

•Use glazed office and department fronts to create the sense of accessibility and openness found in financial institutions.

•Use interior finish and furnishing selections to establish a professional decorum typical of contemporary professional offices.

•Provide a flexible palette of materials that can offer programmatic distinction while maintaining design consistency throughout.

•Create spaces that are flexible enough for easy program changes and technological upgrades.

Typical of many in-place renovations, each renovation was phased and coordinated with internal moves and the academic calendar.

With the renovations, Stern’s rebranding of its undergraduate school truly is a successful turnaround.

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