University Center (The New School)

The University Center stands as a vertical campus, replacing the traditional sprawling layout of colleges with a single, sixteen-story block at the corner of Fourteenth Street and Fifth Avenue. Architects designed this structure to force interaction, utilizing a system of skip-stop elevators paired with prominent, open communicating stairs. These stairs are wide and intentionally exposed, encouraging students and faculty to walk between floors and experience chance encounters rather than being whisked away in isolation.