Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

NYU to Open New Academic Center in Greenwich Village

  • By Matt Jones
  • 01/12/23

New York University in New York City is getting ready to open its newest academic building, the John A. Paulson Center. The 735,000-square-foot vertical campus in Greenwich Village was designed by Davis Brody Bond and KieranTimberlake, according to a news release, and its purpose is to both demonstrate and encourage students’ academic and social lives. The facility includes academic, athletic, performing arts, and residential space, as well as common areas and a pedestrian corridor open to the public.

The center is named after NYU alumnus John A. Paulson, who contributed a $100-million gift toward the building’s construction. A news release reports that the gift is the largest that the NYU Washington Square Campus has ever received, as well as the largest building that NYU has built in the Washington Square core. Construction began in 2016, and the building is scheduled to open this month.

“Great cities need great universities, and universities need space to fulfill their academic missions,” said NYU President Andrew Hamilton. “The Mercer site [named for the building’s placement on Mercer Street] is a once-in-a-generation campus building, and its singleness is matched only by the uncommon generosity of John Paulson’s extraordinary gift. We are honored by his support for the University and particularly this building, which fulfills so many crucial needs for NYU now and far into the future. We are immensely grateful to him, and thrilled to recognize him by naming the building the John A. Paulson Center.”

The Paulson Center features 58 classrooms; athletic facilities for men’s and women’s basketball, fencing, wrestling, volleyball, and squash, as well as a six-lane pool; performance spaces including a proscenium theater, warehouse theater, orchestra ensemble room, and support space for the School of Music; three residential towers with space for 407 freshmen and 42 faculty apartments; communal study spaces; 25,000 square feet of green roof space; and high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, according to the news release.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Colorado School District Breaks Ground on Unified PK–12 Campus

    The Haxtun School District No. Re-2J in Haxtun, Colo., recently announced that ground has been broken on a renovation/addition project that will unite its two schools, Haxtun Elementary and Haxtun Jr/Sr High School, according to a news release.

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.

  • Universities Continue to Launch Multimillion-Dollar Campus Transformations

    What makes the current wave of campus development especially noteworthy is its emphasis on multi-use functionality and community integration. Institutions are no longer investing solely in academic or athletic facilities in isolation. Instead, they are creating destinations that blend recreation, health, housing, and event-driven economic activity.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.