Jose Leite

Architecture and the Written Word

February 4th, 2016

Assignment 1.1

Standing tall and proud on the corner of 14th Street and 5th Avenue, a monolith of

pharaonic proportions mockingly challenges New Yorkers to try to ignore it’s glistening glory.

This pompous, self-indulgent vessel all but disregards the city below, instead summoning one

and all to admire it’s self-proclaimed majesty. What is most troublesome, though, is the notion

that this shallow, obnoxious narcissist was meticulously conceived, commissioned and crafted

to express the fabricated persona of an institution in crisis with it’s own identity, desperate to be

recognized and respected by it’s peers and the community at large. And, what’s worse, in it’s

failure to do so, this monument to moral decadence manages only to broadcast - in bright, red

letters - it’s own inhibitions and insecurities.

Behind a bulletproof layer of copper cladding, The New School University Center is

allowed serene isolation from the reality of the outside world, elevated and removed from the

gruesome dystopia that is New York in the 21st century, a city that has never before witnessed

so little crime, but that is now faced instead with the largest homeless population in recorded

history. Inside and past security, social justice is the motto - or would "slogan" be a more

appropriate term? -, while outside street dwellers are encouraged to move out from in front of

the building, so as not to disturb the peace. Likewise, the austere, serpentining windows carved

into the building’s hull seem to materialize the institution's long cultivated attempts at appearing

avant-garde, even if only in a superficial and ultimately pointless fashion.

Within the reinforced fortress that is the UC, three redundant sets of monumental

staircases wrap themselves around a complex system of classrooms, study stations, computer

and printing labs, a library, an auditorium, a cafeteria, two cafés, a gym, a green terrace and
nine stories of student residences, effectively supplying it’s population with all the amenities they

might otherwise feel inclined to seek elsewhere. Much like a medieval fief, this brute of a

building is always prepared for battle, with sensors, alarms and triggers anxious to be meddled

with, an opportunity to flaunt their true colors. Every single door, wall and stairwell is fireproof.

From a utilitarian perspective, the building accomplishes with great poise and

considerable elegance what is expected of it, offering unrestricted and unobstructed access to

the faithful patrons and beneficiaries whose generous endowments made it’s existence feasible.

They may not even realize it, but along with all these conveniences they are also entitled to an

education, however secondary that may seem in the midst of such megalomania. Consumed by

it’s own spectacle, the University Center succeeds in creating a fantasy world: an indirectly lit,

air-conditioned, ethnically diverse society with equality for all… who can afford to keep up with

the tuition. The facilities are pristine, and most spaces are well lit, generously dimensioned and

comfortable. But it’s the sterility that really stands out. On the upper levels, one could easily

confuse the 150 or so dorms with hotel rooms, aligned along a series of narrow hallways devoid

of natural lighting or any communal spaces for social interaction. As in a parking garage, each

story is painted a bright color, a futile attempt to imbue character into a design that

fundamentally neglects any semblance of personality or identity. While this might go unnoticed

by most of the building’s commuters, it’s permanent residents can’t help but feel alienated and

impotent before the rigid, authoritative gestures that dictated the design process.

Shockingly, with all it’s excesses and hostility, this towering behemoth still manages to

appeal to a specific population, one that in large part identifies with the values embodied by the

school’s agenda. Like all of education in the United States, The New School has evolved into a

business, preoccupied first and foremost in catering to it's target demographic, to which it may

present itself as the pinnacle of shiny 5th Avenue glamour and style. And the University Center

is it’s new beacon, a vehicle with which to market the lifestyle, whatever that may entail.