Columbia University Morningside Campus

Columbia University Morningside Campus

Location New York, NY

Category Education

Focus Area Rehabilitation Planning

Building Enclosure Master Plan

Ranging from landmarked McKim, Mead & White designs to modern glass curtain wall construction, the more than 60 buildings of Columbia University’s Morningside Campus house dormitories, research facilities, libraries, classrooms, dining halls, and faculty residences. When the university undertook coordinated campus-wide rehabilitation and maintenance planning, they retained Hoffmann Architects + Engineers to direct and implement the project.

Campus facilities are host to myriad activities, ranging from academic to cultural to residential. Hoffmann’s minimally invasive investigation and field-testing program protected the privacy and preferences of building occupants.

Individual building surveys detailed exterior conditions and recommended remedial action, with construction cost estimates, for observed deterioration or failures in facades, roofs, and related components. For buildings subject to New York City Local Law 11 of 1998 (Facade Inspection Safety Program), a facade inspection and repair ordinance, appropriate documentation was submitted to the Department of Buildings as part of the evaluation process.

View Slideshow of the Columbia University Morningside Campus case study

Columbia University Morningside Campus

Columbia University Morningside Campus

Columbia University Morningside Campus Philosophy Building

Columbia University Morningside Campus

Columbia University Morningside Campus Uris

Because integrated property management demands a more holistic approach than simply an account of individual buildings’ failings, Hoffmann also developed a comprehensive master planning document that outlined a phased exterior rehabilitation program for the entire campus, based on the findings of the sixty-plus condition assessments. Criteria balancing the university’s immediate needs and long-term goals were established to prioritize and budget for repairs, from routine maintenance to major rehabilitation. To facilitate remediation, Hoffmann developed standard drawings and specifications for a number of recurrent roof and facade conditions.

Subsequently, Columbia retained Hoffmann Architects + Engineers to design and oversee water penetration studies and exterior remediation of facades, roofs, and plazas, as recommended in the firm’s building enclosure master plan. For each filing cycle of the Facade Inspection Safety Program (FISP), Hoffmann continues to provide investigation, report filing, and remedial repair design and construction administration services to keep the storied urban campus in pristine condition.