This new 11-story, steel-framed building was designed as a replacement for Lehman Hall, Barnard College’s old library. The interdisciplinary building brings together faculty and students to foster collaboration.
While Lehman Hall was being demolished and before Milstein Hall was complete, Silman also worked on the adaptive reuse of an existing gymnasium to create a temporary office space.
Part of the Milstein Center’s 11-story tower cantilevers 20 feet over the existing Altschul Hall plaza to the north and extends east, providing meeting rooms overlooking the campus lawn. A bridge connects the two buildings at the fifth floor.
The new building has a new double-height library with exposed structural U-braces. The design team selected these elegant braced frames over moment frames for their relative lightness and economy. With sustainable features including multiple green roofs, the Milstein Center has a LEED Silver certification goal.
Other spaces in Milstein Hall include classrooms, media facilities, faculty offices, an empirical reasoning laboratory, and conference space.
