University Center , completed in 2013 in 1930 In 1967, New School patrons Vera and Albert List helped purchase and renovate a former department store building at 63-65 Fifth Avenue. The building was named
The Albert List Academic Center and served as a cafeteria, graduate facility, and research center of the university for many decades. By the early 2000s, then university president
Bob Kerrey, wanting to centralize several of The New School's disconnected colleges around Manhattan, called for the building to be replaced by a larger "university center". While the 63-65 Fifth Avenue demolition plans were initially controversial among students and Village residents (spurring several major student occupations of the building in 2009), plans for the building were adjusted in response to student and community concerns. In 2010 the building was demolished and a new design for the proposed
University Center unveiled. The building won several design awards including the Urban Land Institute's 2017–2018 Global Award for Excellence and the 2015 North American Copper in Architecture Award. In a review of the University Center's final design,
The New York Times architecture critic
Nicolai Ouroussoff called the building "a celebration of the cosmopolitan city". The building has a
LEED Gold certification and incorporates green building methods like LED based occupancy sensors, sustainably sourced materials, exterior brass alloy gladding that shades the building, a restricted 35% total glazing envelope, stormwater retention gardens on its roof that funnel to graywater and blackwater recycling tanks, built-in composting vessels in the cafeteria, and a 265-kilowatt cogeneration plant to offset its energy use from the city. At the time of its completion, it was considered one of the most energy-efficient academic buildings in the United States. The University Center also houses part of The New School Art Collection. The collection, now grown to approximately 2,000 postwar and contemporary works of art, continues the school's tradition of incorporating
site-specific works into its public spaces. The school commissioned five socially-themed frescoes by
José Clemente Orozco in mid-January 1931, and to date is the only permanent, public examples of this
fresco form from Mexico in New York City. The former Albert List Academic Center's boardroom featured the commissioned work by
Thomas Hart Benton,
America Today, which is now on-view at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center The largest of the four buildings, 70 Fifth Avenue, is a twelve-story L-shaped building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 13th street and was originally built in 1914 as an office and loft building. It housed the national office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (
NAACP) from February 1914 to June 1923. The renovated ground floor now also contains the New School Archives, a collection of drawings, photographs, letters, and objects documenting 20th-century design. The building was designated a NYC landmark by the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) on May 18, 2021, formally recognizing its history of supporting organizations that advanced
justice,
civil and political rights, as well as
democratic values.
Parsons East The
Parsons East building, located at 25 East 13th Street, is home to the School of Constructed Environments, which houses the
Architecture,
Interior Design,
Lighting Design, and
Product Design departments and studios. Additional facilities in this building include fabrication shops like the Laser Lab, Light + Energy Lab, the Metal Shop, the woodcutting shop, the Healthy Materials Lab, and The
Fine Arts department and studios.
Albert and Vera List Academic Center & Library The
Vera List Center, located in the 16th Street building, features dedicated floors to design studies and development. Both the 6th and 12th floors are dedicated to the Design & Technology Bachelor and Master programs. The 8th floor is the List Center Library which is home to collections based in humanities and social sciences. These collections include but are not limited to periodicals, catalogues, manuscripts, and reserve items.
Performing Arts Library The Performing Arts Library, located on the 2nd and 9th floor of Arnhold Hall on 13th Street, is where patrons can discover sheet music, scores, theater scripts, and endless collections of books featuring music, theater, and dance. The library offers reading rooms for students, faculty, and staff to utilize.
University Center Library The University Center Library, located on the 6th and 7th floor of the new University Center complex on the main campus, features materials and holdings with heavy focus on art, design, and technology subject areas. Collections held here include periodicals, reserved ephemera, and more, all circulating. The library also offers reading rooms as well as collaboration rooms for students, faculty, and staff to utilize.
Archives & Special Collections The Archives & Special Collections facility, located on the lobby level of the University Center, features rare primary source materials, records of notable individuals and organizations, unique publications, and vintage magazine journals. The Archives & Special Collections offers finding aids, past exhibitions, and digital collections. Highlights from the Digital Collections include but are not limited to: • Fashion Runway Slide Collection • Collection of Prints by Eighteen British Artists of the 1960s and 1970s • Fashion Look Books and Merchandising Collection • Menswear Fashion Sketch Collection • Fashion Print Scrapbook Collection ==Academics==