Spacesmith Higher Education

Higher Education

Firm Profile

Founded in 1998, Spacesmith LLP is a New York City and State registered Women-Owned Business Enterprise. Just as the word “smith” means “to craft, forge, or design,” the name Spacesmith reflects the firm’s commitment to the tradition of great craftsmanship, heightened service, and design excellence. Our 30-person firm is made up of a tightknit group of professionals in the disciplines of architecture, interior design, project management, programming, master planning, sustainability, and wellness. The diversity of our team and practice areas allows for knowledge sharing in a constantly evolving world.

Spacesmith’s experience with academic institutions has led to our deep understanding of the inherent needs and priorities associated with complex educational building projects. Services for these clients include master planning and designing student and faculty residences, classrooms, libraries, administrative areas, auditoriums, and meeting and recreational areas. Spacesmith’s work is renowned for under-standing performance-driven cultures that enable our clients to attract and retain leading educators, researchers, and students.

Collaboration is integral to our firm’s design process. Through open, ongoing dialogue, we draw from client’s insights and the expertise of our team to encourage innovative thinking and exploration of design possibilities.

Spacesmith is committed to designing healthy, energy efficient, and environmentally sensitive buildings and interior spaces. We seek sustainable methods, systems, and materials with the belief that buildings not only can be less harmful but can be part of the environmental solution.

New York University Paulson Center

New York, NY

Role: FF&E Design & Coordination

Scope: New Mixed-Use Academic Facility

Size: 735,000 sf

Spacesmith was in charge of the FF&E design for the new John A. Paulson Center – a building that sets a new paradigm for multi-use facilities at NYU, containing an athletic complex, classrooms, theatrical and musical rehearsal and performance spaces, firstyear student and faculty residential towers, and a new Commons. It has more classroom spaces than any other building on campus.

In this role, the firm worked closely with the Provost’s office and the building’s architects to help define and design the classroom of the future – one which would accommodate a range of teaching and learning styles. The 58 square classrooms hold 25 students each; a mix of moveable furnishings allows for a variety of lecture, group and seminar configurations, and a mix of high and low technology creates classrooms that enable different learning styles and support multiple pedagogies.

Spacesmith selected and designed furnishings for the entire building, and developed custom fabrics for the project that combine, in modern prints and weaves, NYU’s signature purple with the burnt sienna of the facades in the neighborhood’s architecture. The furnishings in the public areas were curated for flexibility – for a spectrum of activities, both informal and formal. Spacesmith also worked closely with the design team and student life and housing committees on the design and layouts for the 425-bed dormitory.

In addition to the functional and aesthetic aspects, our team was tasked with specifying furniture with low emitting materials and third-party testing to assist with LEED certification. This constraint required us to interact with and educate vendors about the logistics and importance of choosing materials that do not harm the environment. This project is LEED Gold certified.

New York University University Development & Alumni Relations (UDAR)

Role: Architecture/Interior Design, FF&E Design

Scope: Consolidation & New HQ Design

Size: 50,000 sf

Spacesmith collaborated with Davis Brody Bond on the design of a new headquarters for NYU’s University Development and Alumni Relations division (UDAR). Comprised of five groups, UDAR had been working in outdated, ad hoc spaces dispersed across NYU’s urban campus that lacked areas to collaborate or hold events, both essential to the division’s work. Additionally, employees were housed in a variety of small, shared offices that did not support the work process. NYU tasked the team with crafting a new workplace strategy and design that would provide the correct type of individual and focused spaces needed for its staff, as well as for collaboration opportunities and amenities.

New York, NY

Taking inspiration from the building’s industrial heritage, our concept is neat, clean, and open. The design utilizes the floor’s 10-foot ceilings to assist in daylight filtration and air circulation, and incorporates existing historic elements, such as arched windows and exposed columns. Mechanical systems are exposed in open work areas and concealed within the ceilings of closed offices.

The floor plan is organized into five, clearly defined zones–one for each group comprising UDAR. Each is separated by full-height volumes set back from the perimeter windows to house offices, meeting rooms, breakout areas, and support spaces. These are centrally located within each zone to allow daylight to filter deep into the floor plate. The area between the volumes and the window wall provides additional, open meeting space, as well as a secondary circulation route.

All 18 offices have glass fronts to provide a visual connection between leadership and staff. Open plan workstations are outfitted with electronic, heightadjustable standing desks, ample work surfaces, and storage, including a personal locker. Low-height workstation surrounds provide visual privacy when seated and further assist in bringing in natural light, as well as opening sight lines to the perimeter. Collaboration areas range from large, multi-person, enclosed meeting rooms with technology to semi-private team areas, quiet rooms, and telephone rooms.

The color palette takes its cue from the steel and concrete of the New York City skyline, and is largely white, grey, and black, accentuated with pops of colors throughout including NYU purple in various shades.

Columbia University Chandler Hall Renovation

New York, NY

Role: Architecture/Interior Design, FF&E Design

Scope: Conversion from Chemistry Library to Classrooms

Size: 6,500 sf

Spacesmith converted a former chemistry library into much needed classroom space in Columbia University’s Chandler Hall. Our team began with a feasibility study and schematic design for two options requested by Columbia: state-of-theart classrooms or an innovation hub. The classroom options needed to accommodate 100+ students and encompass new technologies to support a multitude of teaching styles. The innovation hub program would require metal and wood cutting shops, advanced 3D printing, and laser cutters for engineering student’s use.

After careful consideration, the University chose the classroom option. Our team went on to develop a flexible design that speaks to the new demands of the modernday classroom: proper acoustics for verbal presentations, technical capabilities to support digital presentations and teleconferencing, and spaces that can adapt to every student’s needs and allows for collaboration.

Two smaller rooms are dedicated testing areas for students whose disabilities affect their ability to take exams. As research dictates for these end-users, the rooms are more intimate, smaller in size, allow one desk per student, and offer significant natural light.

Two larger rooms are utilized for classes and lecture halls. Each holds rows of fixed table systems with seats that rotate 180 degrees so that students can easily collaborate when needed. The largest lecture room, able to hold 125 students, provides ADA accessible seating throughout the room, as well as state-of-the-art AV equipment.

Our team chose a natural palette of blond maple for the fixed seating and table systems in the large rooms, and white oak, perforated millwork panels along the walls. The back wall acoustical fabric pops with one of Columbia University’s signature colors, a deep, bold blue. And as requested by Columbia’s faculty, each room features sliding chalk boards.

Cooper Union New York, NY

Role: Architecture/Interior Design, FF&E Design

Scope: Office Consolidation

Size: 4,400 sf

Spacesmith designed a new department to bring together Cooper Union’s Admissions, Registrar, and Financial Aid Offices. The goal was to create an efficient “one stop” for students, programmed to move intuitively with the registration process. The floor was divided into three zones by installing two partial height dividing walls. Staff offices run along the periphery while student areas are kept open and free flowing in the center.

Two points of entry are utilized: the main leading to Admissions, the back to Records and Registrations. Financial Aid is in the center.

Upon entering Admissions, students find a waiting area beside a colorful, custom-made reception desk with sculptural aspects that reflect the three courses of study offered: art, architecture, and engineering.

The first dividing wall slips under the overhang of the entry vestibule creating bold angles as it separates Admissions from the students’ next stop, Financial Aid. Entering this second zone, students are greeted by an advisor in another

small waiting area. Computer modules are available for use in the heart of this space. An identical dividing volume then separates Financial Aid from Records and Registrations.

A long, back wall is shared by all three zones. Its center holds blue glass with a view of a yellow corridor that connects the two entrances, creating an illusion that the glass is tinted green. This outer passage holds restrooms and MEP systems at the building’s core. Lighting is suspended from the building’s columns, leaving ceilings unadorned, increasing the open feeling of the space. Cooper Union’s colors (red, yellow, blue, and green) are used throughout to differentiate space and help with way finding.

School of Visual Arts

MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media

New York, NY

Role: Architecture/Interior Design, FF&E Design

Scope: Renovation

Size: 6,000 sf

Spacesmith reimagined the School of Visual Arts’ popular MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media department which occupies the ground floor of a former warehouse building. The project was divided into two phases: the first addressing all classroom, studio, faculty, and common spaces; the second a new multi-purpose area connecting the façade to the interior.

Our challenge was to marry high traffic student areas with accessible, yet private faculty offices, focusing on air, light, and sound control. Our team reorganized the program by creating a circulation path that intuitively flows in and out of student hubs and faculty spaces.

At the department entrance off the building’s core, circulation splits. One path leads to spaces for teaching and production. The other leads to the faculty offices, providing separation from the noise and activities. Eventually, both paths converge at the front of the building and lead to a previously unused area – a former loading dock, positioned three feet below street level. The space is now a versatile area used for meetings, classes, social activities, and installations. An extra 2,000 sf of space was added, allowing the program’s offerings to expand. To enhance street presence, the former loading dock’s three large steel doors at the building’s front have been opened and replaced with glass.

Extending diagonally from the interior level, the polished concrete floor bridges into the loading dock area, incorporating storage beneath its sleek surface. This dynamic design is accompanied by the presence of a freestanding movable wall, an artistic blend of form and function. Adorned with a versatile, tackable surface and featuring a substantial, industrial hinge, this wall serves as a room partition, as well as an expansive canvas for pin-ups.

Our team celebrated the building’s industrial legacy by artfully integrating reclaimed wood and blackened steel elements. Up-cycled wooden benches mounted on rollers serve as functional art pieces. In addition, the original herringbone brick floor, a historical touch that adds both character and charm, was meticulously preserved.

You have to know what it looked like before. It was a warren of makeshift spaces with sound problems, no heat, or air conditioning. Now it’s a totally different environment. It’s a place I like to be in, a place students like to be in. I think the school is enhanced in every way.

Charles Traub, Chair, School of Visual Arts MFA Photography, Video, & Related Media

School of Visual Arts

Design for Social Innovation

New York, NY

Role: Architecture/Interior Design, FF&E Design

Scope: Renovation

Size: 5,000 sf

Design for Social Innovation is a comprehensive two-year graduate program, nurturing students into adept leaders of creativity within the realm of Social Innovation. The very essence of the teaching approach is rooted in complete collaboration. As such, the space was crafted to exude flexibility and openness, aligning with the diverse needs of both faculty and students. The challenge was also to create a space in which every inch was utilized, no waste, no unnecessary luxury.

Central to the design is a circular 55-seat auditorium, outfitted with cutting-edge audio-visual capabilities. This auditorium seamlessly accommodates presentations, lectures, and symposiums and includes an ADA ramp and seating. Placed strategically at the heart of the rectangular floor plan, this auditorium serves as a visual contrast to the modular spaces and rooms that revolve around it. It stands as the focal point that anchors the design and enhances the intimacy and immediacy of the space it envelopes.

Half of the outer walls of the auditorium are coated with magnetic paint, facilitating the easy interchange of graphics and functioning as versatile whiteboards, chalkboards, and bulletin boards. The remaining half is dedicated to built-in student lockers, maximizing every inch of space.

Revolving around the auditorium are an array of program and amenity spaces that cater to both students and faculty. The “playroom,” a dynamic open-plan multipurpose space, encompasses one side, equipped with adaptable desks that foster collaborative and interactive learning experiences.

The design also encompasses a serene study room, a computer lab, a sound booth tailored for podcasts, and an inviting eat-in pantry that effortlessly doubles as an open teaching space. Sprinkles of vibrant color are effortlessly woven into the design through the incorporation of primary, brightly colored tiles. The space is awash with natural light, permeating through generous interior glazing elements.

Additional Projects

School of Visual Arts / New Residence Hall New York, NY

School of Visual Arts / New Residence Hall New York, NY

St. John’s University / Career Services Queens, NY

St. John’s University / Career Services Queens, NY

School of Visual Arts / Social Documentary Film New York, NY

School of Visual Arts / Social Documentary Film New York, NY