The New School for Social Research has a reputation for being in the vanguard of new ideas. In its renovation we wanted to create a composition that demonstrates a visual and contextual duality between the old and the new, and illustrates how they can nourish each other. Located on Fifth Avenue, the new Building replaces a four-story brownstone With twelve stories of new construction, linking the three main divisions of the New School: Parsons School of Design, The Graduate School of Management and Urban Professions, and the Adult Division.

The full-height skylight atrium, constructed within an existing light well, defines the center of the building group, forming a new indoor campus. Acting as the hub, it allows direct connections between prime areas such as the library, student cafeteria, and faculty offices. Circulation spaces ring the atrium, creating passages which foster chance or serendipitous meetings by the students and faculty. A gallery court below the atrium provides exhibition and reception capacity, while allowing access to the street. A "library Court" is connected to it by an open stair, establishing an area for casual and off-hours study. The new façade serves as the main entrance, with access to all three branches of the New School.

The front building houses administrative and faculty offices and teaching spaces--simple lofts designed as studios for programs such as communication and graphic arts, computing, and film and media. Continuing the celebratory tradition of using flags as ornament, the large Flagpoles are seen from many blocks away, establishing the school as a landmark and announcing its three branches.