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An sinuous structure completes a historic campus trio.
Sited at the edge of Syracuse University’s historic campus center, a new building for the school of communications, known as Newhouse III, marks the campus gateway. It joins two pre-existing buildings, a classically inspired modernist temple designed by I.M. Pei in 1963, and a pre-cast concrete structure designed by SOM in 1972. The original master plan for the communications school complex called for three buildings, but due to cost overruns during construction, plans were scaled back to the two 20th-century structures. Over three decades later, Polshek Partnership Architects has completed the trio.
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The new building rationalizes the existing complex’s labyrinthine circulation system, acting as a conduit between the two earlier buildings. A simple bar form, which houses classrooms, conference rooms, and the mechanical and circulation core, is separated from a ribbon-like glass wall by a three-story, sky-lit atrium. A space for informal and serendipitous encounters among faculty, students, and the staff, this new interstitial zone functions as the social and communal heart of the school.
Conception of the project began with the premise that the original Pei-designed building is a distinguished piece of period architecture to which the new building should defer. Taking its cues from the materiality, color, proportions, and geometries of Pei’s building, the east facade of Newhouse III creates a respectful backdrop, and completes the plaza area. In the west, unencumbered by historic context, the facade is an iconic sinuous form. Its gossamer-like glass skin, which changes in response to varied atmospheric conditions, fills the interior with light, and is a metaphor for accessibility and openness.
Newhouse III is an expressive icon for the school of journalism; inscribed in the undulating glazed facade is the First amendment to the constitution, visible from the exterior.
Formal name of project: Syracuse University, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Newhouse III
Location: Syracuse, New York
Gross square footage: 75,000 sq.ft.
Completion Date: September 2007
Total construction cost: $23 million
Owner: Syracuse University
Architect:
Polshek Partnership Architects, LLP
320 West 13th Street
New York, New York 10014
P: 212.807.7171
F: 212.807.5917
www.polshek.com
info@polshek.com
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