New York University - 20 Cooper Square

2009
LTL Architects
New York, NY

16,400 GSF

Education & Libraries

The Department of Social & Cultural Analysis at New York University unites a broad range of disciplines addressing issues in the humanities and social sciences. Located in a renovated loft, the project gathers the department’s diverse faculty and graduate students under one roof for the first time. As such, the design emphasizes opportunities for interaction and collaboration, with lighting designed to enhance and promote those aims.

At the reception, perforated bamboo ceiling panels are back-lit with fluorescents, complimenting the existing, concrete barrel-vaulted ceiling, which is up-lit throughout to reinforce unity of multiple disciplines within one space. The unique, visible bookcase details in the corridors, which display professor’s current publications, are lit with integrated LEDs. Adjacent office spaces, due to their small footprint, utilize clerestory windows at interior walls to supplement the hallway’s ambient light. In the conference and meeting rooms, fluorescent slots repeat the linear lighting concept found throughout the space.