The Stabile Student Center Construction
The Stabile Student Center
A glass enclosure will create 1,000-sq. ft. café
Exterior of Journalism building today
For the first time since the 1913 opening of its building, and almost 11,000 graduates later, the Journalism School is poised to create a comprehensive student center, thanks to lead gifts from Toni Stabile and Daniel J. Edelman, J’41.
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See a slideshow of the construction
View artist's renderings of the Stabile Student Center(PDF)
Toni Stabile's gift
Daniel J. Edelman's gift
Updated Time Line
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The Stabile Student Center, scheduled to open in the fall of 2007, will contain a series of comfortable and highly visible spaces where students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni can relax and interact. The plan, by Marble Fairbanks Architects, reconfigures the western end of the double-height main floor (200 level) and basement (100 level), and makes exceptional use of previously underutilized spaces, including the 100 level, a long-abandoned stair hall, and the outdoor terrace.
The heart of the Stabile Student Center is a social hub that occupies much of the 200 level. It will be configured and furnished for flexible use, from socializing to study to special events. The Library will relocate to new quarters within the Stabile Student Center, and Career Services and Dean of Students staffs will occupy main- and mezzanine-level offices adjacent to the social hub. An open stairway between the 200 and 100 levels, parallel to the Broadway windows, will bring light to the lower level, which will be programmed with round-the-clock interview stations, a teaching lab, two conference rooms, and a suite for doctoral students.
A glass enclosure on the western end of the School’s terrace will create a 1,000-sq. ft. café. The café’s main façade will be an enormous version of a double-hung window, which can be opened in fine weather. An intricate ceiling of slanted glass panels will direct seasonal sunlight to best interior advantage. The Stabile Student Center will be accessible via the building’s main entrance and the new café’s entrance from the terrace, where there will be outdoor café seating. The café service area will occupy the former 2950 Broadway stair hall, and will be accessible both from the café and the social hub.
The Admissions Office will become newly visible upon its relocation to the former library space on the north side of the lobby. Admissions and Career Services also will share a conference area on the east side of the lobby, formerly occupied by the mail room, which will move to the 100 level. Adjunct offices will move from the western to the eastern end of the 100 level.
Columbia Journalism Review and CJRDaily will make an eastward move across the lobby to space now occupied by the Knight-Bagehot Program, which in turn will move to Admissions’ former suite on the 700 level. Four new faculty offices will claim the 600-level student lounge. The Dean Joan Konner Alumni/Alumae Hall (lobby) will be treated to an historically sensitive refurbishing.
The Journalism Library in its current incarnation in 203 Journalism will close at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 10. The library will reopen within the newly constructed student center this Fall.
Items that have been checked out from Journalism that have circulated from our regular collection may be returned to any other campus library (Butler Library being the closest one). Journalism Reserves items will circulate from the Lehman Library and should be returned there.
During construction, the Journalism Library collection will be relocated in its entirety to Lehman Library, which is located on the 3rd floor of the International Affairs (SIPA) building on Amsterdam Ave. and 118th St. The circulating Journalism collection and books from the reference shelf will be shelved separately from Lehman's collection, in the Lehman sorting area. Journalism Master's projects and theses will be kept at Lehman's reserve desk, as will the Journalism reserves collection, periodicals and newspapers received by the Journalism Library.
Books requested from Health Sciences or Offsite may be sent to any other library location that is convenient to you. Journalism will not be listed as a delivery option during the construction period.
If you have a research question, the Journalism Librarian, Deborah Wassertzug, will be working in a different library during the summer (location TBD). The easiest way to reach her will be via email, dw242@columbia.edu. She will send out shortly an office phone number and a Google Talk screen name for use during the summer months. The Journalism Library will reopen in the Fall.
This building project will greatly improve the overall J-School experience, and will dramatically align the School’s physical plant with the curricular and administrative changes made in the past several years.
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For more information
For information on naming opportunities available within the Stabile Student Center please contact Jeffrey Richard, Associate Dean for Development 212.854.1148 or jeffrey.richard@columbia.edu
For questions or comments
Toni McNair, Building and Operations Manager tm2117@columbia.edu
Updated Time Line 2007
April 23 Mailroom moves to (104), second floor mailroom closed for construction (202)
Late April - Early May pre-construction moves begin for CJR, Knight-Bagehot, adjuncts’offices
May 10 Library (203) closed for construction
May 12 Student lounges (605 and 107) closed for construction
May 16 Class of 2007 graduates
May 22 Demolition begins: CJR space (207); library (203); Knight Bagehot (204); and student loung (605).
July 27 Admissions suite (203) and 600-level faculty offices completed
August 16 - 20 Class of 2008 in place (broadcast students arrive on August 6)
August 31 Student Center completed
November 23 Café completed