Yeshiva University Belz Building

Manhattan, NY

A design that respects and speaks to YU’s past, while establishing its physical presence as a world-class 21st century institution.

The concept of campus suggests that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. MPA’s redesign of Belz Building, the Student Center at Yeshiva University, aims to unify existing and future buildings and spaces into a physically and visually coherent urban campus. Moving beyond façade systems alone, the design engages the identity of the campus, uncovering synergies between program, site, and institutional vision.

Our renovation of the façade began with a study of the interior disposition of program, identifying a series of spatial and programmatic opportunities that extend from access and circulation to visibility and collective use. These opportunities mobilize the building envelop to connect with the urban campus.

The façade is conceived as a high-performance system that integrates thermal comfort, sun control, daylighting, and air quality. Beyond technical performance, the curtain wall operates as an active interface between interior program and campus life, supporting the success Center, gallery, and student spaces. The recladding transforms a utilitarian envelope into a responsive and legible system that enhances both performance and identity.

Project Year

2024

Project Phase

Construction Documentation Completed

Project Team

Client: Yeshiva University

Facade Consultant: Buro Ehring

Interior Architect: Applied Design Initiative

Programmatic engagement of multiple scales

Each of the possible program opportunities inform one or more of the three alternative façade proposals.

A CORNER ENTRANCE on Amsterdam Avenue strengthens the building’s identity at the intersection of campus and city.
The PLAZA ENTRANCE could be universally accessible and more visible by incorporating a new level walkway and setting back a fully glazed surface to create a deep porch.
A doubled-height BALCONY / GATHERING SPACE could be created, by recessing the façade on the 3^rd and 4^th floor, to introduce light and shared space to upper-level circulation.
A double height LOBBY on the first floor creates visual continuity from front plaza entrance to rear garden, bringing light through the depth of the building.
The southwest portion of the first floor could have a split-level STUDENT LOUNGE: a balcony level and a possible cafeteria at a lower level which would be level with the South Garden. An open stair and reflective treatment of the South façade would enhance lighting in this dynamic space.
An entrance from the empty lot to the south enables DEDICATED ACCESS to fifth floor event space and roof terrace.
An enhanced fifth floor EVENT SPACE could act as a glowing lantern on Amsterdam Avenue, extending the building’s identity to the campus and its urban context.

Ground and Circulation

There is an opportunity to look at DOT Plaza in conjunction with other outdoor spaces, including across Amsterdam Avenue, to visually integrate these into a kind of urban campus quadrangle, anchoring individual buildings and drawing them into new relationships. The ground level establishes a new accessible and visible point of entry that redefines the relationship between building and campus. Taking advantage of the site’s slope, a level walkway extends along the façade, leading to a recessed glazed entry that forms a sheltered porch while preserving existing trees. This intervention improves accessibility from the DOT Plaza while making interior programs more visible and inviting.

Urban Presence

Emphasizing the Belz Building’s openness and accessibility on all sides, and the continuous sequence of communal spaces within, various points of its interior can connect with the urban context. This reinforces the role of the DOT Plaza, towards creating the notion of a campus that extends across Amsterdam Avenue, maximizing the role of Danciger Quadrangle. In the future, this can be further expanded through a direct relation with the park along the river, by reaching beyond Strenger Residence Hall across Laurel Hill Terrace, thus establishing a connection between the campus and the urban scale. The proposed fifth floor event space will be an iconic beacon of light, enhancing the institution’s visibility from the Bronx across the river, alongside the tower of Zysman Hall.

Envelope Alternatives

CURTAIN WALL: Introducing variations into an otherwise homogeneous cladding system, wrapping a large volume, to suggest different possibilities of occupation and use. Such variations include diversity in the width of spandrel glass horizontal bands, with differently spaced extruded mullions mounted on the glazing surface, including fritting to modulate glass transparency.

PRECAST: Creating a module that could offer sufficient texture, such that the repetitive logic of elements could enrich the building’s surface, while also delineating the scale of openings. We conceived the facades as two scales of folding surfaces in repetitive units at different scales, defining a middle scale of areas through frames that suggest their grouping.

RAINSCREEN: Our design of the Terracotta Rainscreen façade system takes advantage of the cladding system to control the degree of transparency of glazing through compatible secondary elements. Punctuated openings are defined by projecting frames, that orient individual units by interweaving horizontal and vertical elements of the same material.

Curtain Wall Development

The proposed Curtain Wall introduces a set of variations on the surface of what is essentially a straightforward cladding system. The design creates the perception of areas with different intensity within the north face of this long building, through areas that weave rhythmic overlays of extruded mullions. When the glazing turns the corner from the north to the west façade, a system of louvers takes the place of the extruded mullions, addressing the performance requirements set by the sun’s daily movement.

The narrative about different conditions at the two ends of the main façade includes expressing the presence of an events room above the corner of Amsterdam Avenue, through a different scale of glazing that wraps the full width of the east façade, reaching the wall above the currently empty lot. The idea is to bring measure to the building through a patchwork of perceptual densities to acknowledge different performance standards, such that the building’s full volume becomes an opportunity to create special places.