To address the evolving cultural and programmatic evolution of Pace University, FXCollaborative designed a new Student Landscape that emphasizes the university’s identity, creates new student-centric spaces, and enhances connections: by connecting the university to the city and the street; connecting interior spaces to light, air, and views; and connecting Pace students to each other and the broader university community.
The Student Landscape transforms the lower floors of its two flagship buildings—One Pace Plaza, a brutalist mid-century building, and 41 Park Row, a 19th century neo-Romanesque landmark and former home of the New York Times. The project also provides distinct spaces and identities for the Lubin School of Business and the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences.
In order to integrate these multiple communities and entities into a coherent project, a new campus-wide circulatory path was created, and reinforced with new entrances, windows, atria, and communicating stairs in both buildings. This path then activates a vibrant series of new student spaces: a flexible student ‘living room’ overlooking Beekman Plaza, various tech bars and touch-down spaces, small-scale study booths, collaboration spaces, an art gallery, and informal student lounges. In each instance, these spaces celebrate the unique structural conditions of both buildings, while also providing extensive modernization and technology upgrades.
MEP Engineer: AKF Group
Structural Engineer: Gilsanz Murray Steficek
Civil Engineer: Langan
General Contractor: Sciame Construction
Code/Life Safety Consultant: Walter T. Gorman
Lighting Consultant: HDLC Architectural Lighting
Acoustics Consultant: Longman Lindsey
Landscape Architect: Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects
Photography: Chris Cooper