East to West

Brooklyn College Continues Its Transformation

by Natalie Keith

It will take some shuffling of student services to accomplish, but Brooklyn College has taken the first steps in its $76.3 million West Quad project.

The Bedford Avenue pedestrian bridge has been removed and renovation work on 80,000 sq. ft. of existing space has begun. The space is being revamped so that uses within the existing 2-story Plaza Building can be relocated and the structure demolished.

"We've done some work on the east side of the campus - we built a new library - and now the college felt it was time to start cleaning up the west side," said Bob Kilar, director of the education division at Turner Construction.

After existing uses have been relocated, construction is expected to begin in January 2005 of a new 140,000-sq.-ft. West Quad Building that will provide classroom space and house admissions, recruitment, financial aid, food services and grounds and custodial support offices. It will also be home to the Department of Physical Education & Exercise Science and feature improved indoor sports facilities including several new gymnasiums, a swimming pool and an indoor track.

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The new West Quad Building will be 50,000 sq. ft. smaller than the building it will replace but, through efficient planning and design, will provide almost as much usable square footage. The project is expected to be fully completed by December 2007.

Among ways the college was able to accomplish this was the creation of the "Oasis," a consolidated enrollment service center. Staff are cross-trained so that students can have a "one-stop shopping" experience, said Michelle Rouffer, project manager, Rafael Vinoly Architects, P.C.

In keeping with the academic styling of the existing campus, the new grounds will feature a landscaped quadrangle with trees and grassy areas ideal for campus events and student activities. New façades will be constructed on the Roosevelt and James buildings where they currently connect to the existing Plaza building. New entrances will be created on both buildings making them easily accessible from the newly designed West Quad.

"The new building carefully considered and responded to the scale and massing of the buildings defining the West Quad, negotiating the imposing mass of James Hall and more articulated massing of Roosevelt," said Rouffer.

The renovations were first proposed in the college's 1995 master plan and $76.3 million in funding has been allocated in the New York State budget. Planners estimate that the cost of the construction will be offset in less than 20 years by reduced energy consumption of the new building and the elimination of repairs in the old building.

"Our master plan enables us to use our extraordinary complex to its best advantage, and this important financial support permits the college to achieve its commitment of creating a technologically advanced campus that embraces the classic lines of our historically important buildings," said Brooklyn College president Vernon Lattin.

Because the building will house both student services and recreational uses, designing it was particularly challenging. To accomplish this challenge, the building was created with two main volumes, the first a slender bar building that faces that faces the West Quad and houses all of the enrollment service offices. The second volume is comprised of a competition gym, auxiliary gym and pool and is half-sunk with its upper portion completely wrapped in glazing to emphasize its roof. The roof is noteworthy not only for its design, but also for its potential to be used as in the future as a photovoltaic roof system, said Rouffer.

Internally, the space is organized around four main cores that house all the major services and vertical circulation to the building. There is one main corridor that serves as the spine and other spaces branch out from that corridor, she said.

"It is very simple, clean and rational plan," said Rouffer.