Michielli + Wyetzner Architects has been working with Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women to redesign and upgrade their Lexington Avenue Beren Campus. In addition to library, dining, and laboratory planning studies, MWA renovated an existing 40-year old building, updating the front elevation with a new entrance and façade treatments and designing a new lobby and study hall.
Michielli + Wyetzner Architects has been working with Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women to redesign and upgrade their Lexington Avenue Beren Campus. In addition to library, dining, and laboratory planning studies, MWA renovated an existing 40-year old building, updating the front elevation with a new entrance and façade treatments and designing a new lobby and study hall. The new recessed entrance and striped patterned-glass curtain wall give the college a new identity and a strong presence in the neighborhood while also providing an increased level of privacy for the occupants. MWA reconfigured the existing ground floor to increase the size of the lobby and add new classrooms that can be combined into one large event space. Electronic glass separates the classroom/event space from the lobby, enabling the separation to become transparent or opaque at the flip of a switch. Bamboo wall panels, terrazzo floors and glass combine to create a warm, bright and inviting entrance lobby for the school. As part of the design for the new Beit Midrash study hall, MWA enclosed the roof area of the existing seventh floor set-back in glass, creating a beacon for the school in the neighborhood. A bamboo ark containing the Torah is recessed in a custom decorative glass wall.