History & Architecture : Overview

Ferris Booth Hall was constructed in the 1950s and served as the center of student activity for nearly forty years. Photo courtesy of Columbia University Facilities.

The goal of the new student center was to create a space that would facilitate informal interactions while also serving as an anchor for campus activities of all types. Architectural sketch courtesy of Bernard Tschumi Architects.

Bernard Tschumi designed the two distinct parts of Alfred Lerner Hall to signify both continuity with the original features of the campus and ultra-modern revisioning of these earlier themes. Architectural rendering courtesy of Columbia University Facilities.

Demolition of Ferris Booth Hall was completed in 1996, three years after the initial plans for the new building were drawn. Photo courtesy of Columbia University Facilities.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 25, 1996. Alfred Lerner, a CC graduate and then vice chairman of the University Trustees, made a substantial donation to the project and earned the building's namesake. Photo courtesy of Columbia University Archives.

The building was constructed from 1996 to 1999. Its 250,000 square feet of meeting, performance, and social space put the project at a total cost of approximately $85 million. Photo courtesy of Columbia University Archives.

The building production was implemented by Bernard Tschumi Architects and Gruzen Samton Associated Architects, with contributions from Severud Associates, Ove Arup & Partners (New York), and Hugh Dutton (HAD) Paris. Photo courtesy of Columbia University Archives.

The 5,600-square-foot glass campus facade embodies the central themes for the building: accessibility, visibility, and an open, welcoming space in which students could interact both spontaneously and intentionally. Photo courtesy of Columbia University Archives.

"At Columbia, it was the system of ramps and the point-fixing of the very light glass structure. We wanted to bring the maximum amount of light into the building itself. But again, movement is what defines space." -Bernard Tschumi on Lerner Hall, www.tschumi.com. Photo courtesy of Columbia University Archives.

After the building's completion in October 1999, architectural critics raved about the open glass facade and the long ramps connecting the two sections of the building. The design won the American Architecture Award, the New York City AIA Design Award, and Time Best Design of 1999. Photo courtesy of Fifth Avenue Digital.

Today, the building contains a party space, a diverse offering of meeting, rehearsal, and performance spaces, computer rooms and terminals, student mail services (including 7,000 mailboxes), a two-story restaurant, a cafe, a sky-lit gallery and exhibition space, and more. Photo courtesy of Fifth Avenue Digital.