The Vertical Campus Facade

Case study of the recently opened John A. Paulson Center for New York University in Manhattan reviews design solutions of façade depth and scale to break down the city-block building in response to the permitted building massing, student and program visibility, and university identity. The Paulson Center is an urban vertical campus building located at the south end of NYU’s Greenwich Village main campus and is truly a four-sided building with multiple entries on all facades. Transparency and deep connections to the streetscape were identified as key goals of NYU and the design team and became critical drivers for development of the exterior.

• The facade is highly tuned to the urban and environmental conditions to achieve the thermal performance and comfort, visual, acoustic, and bird friendly goals of an all-glass envelope.
• The building profile is stepped to reduce the overall impression of size and bulk and the shifted volumes and cantilevered tower massing offer multiple corner units and views.
• The design optimizes planning of the interior floor area and reduces the maximum permitted building volume and number of floors.
• The facade types employ related, but different, strategies to further break down the scale of the exterior envelope, incorporating jumbo size floor to ceiling glass and large expanses of clear vision glazing at the continuous perimeter circulation and student areas of the building. The facade transparency visually connects the street life to the student activity within, and vice versa.
• Wedge shaped projected window bays are strategically deployed throughout the podium and student towers at areas of high solar exposure. The south facing opaque side of the wedge unit self-shades the adjacent glazing and extends out from the face of the thermally broken unitized curtain wall.
• Inset sloped spandrel panels at the faculty tower introduce depth, shade, and play of light and reflection to the tallest tower, which matches the height of the neighboring landmarked buildings.

The Paulson Center facade responds to the academic and social program of the building, NYU’s diverse identity, and the character and vitality of the neighborhood. Interior lobbies and light-filled perimeter circulation, stairs, and lounges engage the vibrancy of the NYU community, creating a conversation between interior activity and urban campus streetscape. Transparency, daylight, and views are optimized and balanced with multiple design, technical, and performance criteria.

The design of the envelope embodies the spirit of an urban university campus building. The wedge units, inset sloped spandrel panels, and entry canopies are painted a deep aubergine color and when in direct sun are reminiscent of the NYU Violet color, while in shade the color recedes to an abstract dark tone. The glazing incorporates custom ceramic frit in a pattern designed to minimize bird strike, a concern for building facades in the urban context, complementing the environmentally responsible design goals of the project.

Presentation by architects and curtain wall consultant to fully narrate design, engineering, and construction methods.