John A. Paulson Center

Centered around Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, New York University’s campus exists within a dense mix of traditional and modern buildings. Academic programs are dispersed across a number of separate buildings, each functioning with far less space than the University’s peer institutions. The John A. Paulson Center is a new multi-use building on the campus’s southern edge that graciously accommodates NYU’s academic needs, embodies its character and vibrancy, and offers new ways for the University to engage with its own community and the larger city of New York. Designed to promote interaction between diverse student groups and academic disciplines, the John A. Paulson Center at 181 Mercer includes academic classrooms; performing arts theaters, teaching, rehearsal, and practice rooms; athletic facilities for varsity sports and recreation; and housing for students and faculty. Each of these spaces is organized into unique “neighborhoods,” all of which are connected to an open and expansive commons that provides collaborative study, meeting, cafe, and gathering places. The Paulson Center’s design takes advantage of its 360-degree relationship with the neighborhood by placing primary circulation along its transparent perimeter and classroom and instructional spaces towards the center of the building. This reversal of conventional building organization provides faculty and students with one-of-a-kind city views while also giving outside observers a sense of the building’s activity. This distinct layout, along with the building’s prominent stairways, creates a sense of openness and connection by encouraging the casual encounters and intellectual exchanges that are at the center of the NYU experience. Outside, the design continues to develop connections by creating a new pedestrian “greenway” that links two major thoroughfares along the building’s west side. The Paulson Center was designed to fulfill the sustainability pledge found in NYU’s Climate Action Plan and the university’s commitment to environmental responsibility. Targeting LEED Gold standards, and anticipating final certification, the building is designed to improve efficiency, lower carbon emissions, and create an overall healthier learning environment.