The renovation of 36 West 86th Street, a 1905 residential building located in Manhattan’s Upper West Side Historic District, completes the second phase of work for the Bard Graduate Center’s academic facility. Completed in 2000, the first phase at 38 West 86th Street entailed the restoration of the historic townhouse and two additional floors and an expansion into the rear yard to accommodate a 75-seat lecture hall, library, and digital imaging center, classrooms, lounges, and offices. Combining the adjacent townhouses (“36” and “38”) allows significant expansion. More than doubling the space available for its programs, the new facility reinforces the BGC’s identify as a leading graduate research institution for the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture.

Achieving a principal goal of the renovation to fully integrate the library program and teaching spaces, library collections are distributed throughout the floors. A new lower-level study, conveniently situated near expanded stacks, offers quiet views onto a landscaped rear yard. Other more informal seating areas provide a variety of study and meeting spaces in addition to the existing second floor reading room. The academic facilities also include additional classroom and seminar spaces, as well as faculty offices and student lounge areas. The addition of a modern teaching media laboratory and conference center will afford the BGC the opportunity to accommodate expanded curriculum and to meet the needs of the institution as it takes its place among the preeminent centers for research in material culture.

The entry sequence defined in the first phase is retained in the combined building but enhanced: the lobby on the first floor of the 38 building is unified with the adjacent space in the 36 building, which is transformed into a state-of-the-art lecture/public programs facility. A large opening from the lobby provides views into a rich, wood-paneled room with gently curved recesses lined with a horizontal wood screening that accommodates lighting, air outlets and acoustical material. The lobby also serves as a connector to the existing lecture hall and general building circulation. Taking advantage of the expanded floor plate and providing seamless transitions, openings in the original structural party wall connect the two buildings on all floors. A vertical maple-clad plane extending from the lobby to the upper floors references the original demarcation of the two buildings, acknowledges their domestic scale and organizes vertical circulation between floors. Two new communicating stairs – a dramatic steel and glass stair connecting the two primary library floors and a natural wood and steel stair connecting the two floors that house the Center’s faculty and staff – augment existing circulation.

Large expanses of glass and new exterior terraces link interior and exterior, expanding the building perceptually. Open spaces extending north/south through the building and double-height spaces take advantage of natural light to choreograph movement. The careful insertion of the expanded structure into this historic framework has transformed the interiors into an open, light-filled public environment. With new and renovated facades, the building reinforces its presence as a vital civic institution within the urban fabric of the city.

Physical Description: Approximately 17,000sf (net) in the combined facility, 6 stories plus Lower Le and Mechanical Penthouse. Architects: Polshek Partnership Architect, LLP