Outside the BoxThe Cooper Union is a tuition-free institution of higher learning located in Manhattan's East Village. Its spectacular new building for classrooms, laboratories and offices was designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis, an architectural firm based in Santa Monica, California.
Wide Screen
The exterior of the building is a perforated steel scrim that acts as both a sunscreen and an instant attention-grabber. By its folds and slashes it provides a dynamic surface to what might otherwise be a standard stack of offices, classrooms and laboratories.
Around the Bend
Depending on the light that steel skin, which has a low, semi-matte luster, can project either cheese-grater roughness or elegant shimmer — or, oddly, both. The screen is also expected to reduce heatload by 50%.
Old School
The building is located diagonally across from the Cooper Union's brown Italianate Foundation building, which was the tallest building in New York when it was completed in 1859.
Steps Lively
Another striking feature of the building is its main staircase, which ascends from the ground level lobby upwards through a nine-story atrium, framed along its entire length by an undulating white gridwork.
Take a Seat
Mayne conceived of the staircase not just as a means by which to travel from floor to floor but as a social gathering place, a spot to sit and linger, like The Spanish Steps in Rome.
The Right Angles
The white grid frames the stairway dramatically, and differently, at every level.
Stairway to Heaven
At its topmost level the atrium culminates in a skylight.
New Kid on the Block
The buildings surrounding 41 Cooper Square — including a mansard-roofed masonry structure, a green-domed Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the glass and steel tower of a new hotel — typify the eclectic mix of Manhattan's East Village, a neighborhood that now has a very fascinating new neighbor.
source: Time.com
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