WEISS / MANFREDI: Diana Center
Barnard College’s Diana Center, a 98,000 SF multipurpose arts building designed by Weiss / Manfredi, has recently opened for use. The competition-winning design aims to transform the project from simply an art facility into a “social nexus”, creating new spaces for interaction and collaboration between the building’s users.
The 7-storey structure includes architecture and painting studios, a 500-seat performance space, black box theatre, cafe, dining room, reading room, classrooms, and exhibition galleries – all contained within facade of 1,154 clear and color-integral glass panels, intended to reference the brick and terra cotta used  in the surrounding neighborhood.
The project’s most striking feature is a diagonal void carved through the building, creating double-heigh glass atria that connect the building’s interior with the surrounding campus and the city beyond – while also creating informal spaces for the interaction and collaboration mentioned above.
The public-space volume twisting out from the main structure, creating views and social interaction, etc, actually reminds me of Steven Holl’s Linked Hybrid (oddly enough).
::info + images provided by WEISS / MANFREDI::
Posted: February 25th, 2010
at 11:48am by orangemenace
Tagged with green, school, weiss/manfredi, NYC
Categories: architecture,green arch
Comments: 5 comments
5 Responses to 'WEISS / MANFREDI: Diana Center'
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several years ago, archpaper had an interesting writeup on the nexus facade: http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=159
the street-side elevation looks really good.
mike
26 Feb 10 at 4:28 am
Not sure about the orange gradient on the windows (am I reading that right?) but W/M continually impress me with their compositions.
Andy
26 Feb 10 at 4:45 am
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WEISS / MANFREDI: Diana Center | myninjaplease
26 Feb 10 at 8:31 am
This building has an interesting architecture, but not very futuristic.
Stela Savage
4 Mar 10 at 1:23 am
The photos and renderings look great, but in person the exterior is kind of fug. Very orange, and not in a good way. The interior is nice, though.
Ben
6 Sep 10 at 7:56 pm