Columbia University
Manhattanville Development
New York, NY

17 ACRES • 740,500 SF • WITH RPBW

Over the past ten years, Davis Brody Bond in association with Renzo Piano Building Workshop have worked with Columbia University on the major, phased revitalization of a multi-block section of the Manhattanville neighborhood in West Harlem just north of the University’s historic Morningside Heights campus. The 17-acre site is being redeveloped with new academic and mixed-use facilities over a 25-year period. DBB + RPBW developed and realized the master plan and all key elements of the project, including: the 319,000 sf Jerome L. Greene Science Center; the 49,000 sf Lenfest Center for the Arts; a 400,000 sf School of International and Public Affairs; and below-grade plant and support space. DBB has also done pre-schematic work for planned renovations to existing University-owned buildings nearby.

Manhattanville’s goal is a new kind of urban academic environment — one that is connected to the Hudson River yet also woven into the surrounding community.  Improved, pedestrian-friendly streets, active green spaces, and public plazas will reconnect West Harlem to the Hudson River waterfront park. New buildings include locally-oriented retail at street level and a permanent home for the City’s Columbia-assisted public school for math, science, and engineering.

The Jerome L. Greene Science Center and Lenfest Center for the Arts — the first phase of construction — were completed in 2017. Phase 1A was completed in 2018. Davis Brody Bond is currently working on the infrastucture and below-grade work for subsequent phases, which will emphasize interdisciplinary scholarship, including biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, systems biology, and urban and populations studies, as well as housing for graduate students and faculty.

(Photography by Albert Vecerka and Serge Drouin; illustrative sections and montages courtesy of RPBW).