The Forum at Columbia University

Columbia University’s expansion into Manhattanville was contentious, an endeavor successfully accomplished under Executive VP Maxine Griffith who led the master plan’s governmental, regulatory, civic and community engagement efforts. Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) is the designer of the Forum along with the first two completed Manhattanville campus buildings: Lenfest Center for the Arts and the Jerome L. Greene Science Center. Dattner Architects was selected as the Architect of Record for the Forum. Though third in order of construction on the new campus, the Forum, situated at the corner of 125th Street and Broadway is truly the gateway to the Manhattanville Campus, offering a ground floor commons and café fully open to the public. The Forum supports not only community uses, but also the entire academic campus – with a 437-seat auditorium, lecture halls, academic offices, and meeting rooms—the Forum hosts conferences and visiting lectures, and academic fellows. Built on a tight triangular site with numerous regulatory requirements established under the Manhattanville Special Zoning District, the design evolution and execution were achieved within tight time and budget constraints through the friendly, cooperative and fruitful interchange between our firm as the AOR, and the Design Architects, our consultants, and the University. The Manhattanville Development Group (MDG) was established by the University to assure the successful design, construction and operations of each building and the entire project site within the Manhattanville Campus. Design management for MDG was led by Associate VP Fanny Gong from its inception. For the Forum, Arbresha Djonbalic and Adriana Collanzo served as Fanny’s Project Managers during design and construction respectively. Dattner Architects Partner Beth Greenberg was PIC for the Forum; tremendously supported by Project Manager, now Partner, Catherine Selby. Sara Caples, Caples Jefferson acted as Associate Architect for the design team.