☞ ARCHITECTURE: CCNY Architecture School

The City College of New York's architecture school in West Harlem has recently finished its renovation of an old 1950's campus building. Don't get us wrong here, since we would rather have a classical update to the campus, but if we had to choose from the usually small-windowed, banal-bricked or poured-concrete designs of the mid-twentieth century to something more post-modern that brings in light and varied proportions, we would rather go with the latter. It reminds us a little of what's happening in Lincoln Center with the new Juilliard School renovations. More human factors are added, such as the need for light and open air. Another plus is that color provides a nice accent to the space. The building is also a good scale, which does not overwhelm the some of the more elegant, traditional buildings on campus. Unfortunately, CCNY has many new additions from the past few decades that are not as gracious, but at least this is a revised vision. CCNY is at 160 Convent Avenue and the nearest subway is the 1 train on 137th Street.