Alfred Lerner Hall is the student center or students' union of Columbia University. It is named for Al Lerner, who financed part of its construction. Situated on the university's historic Morningside Heights campus in New York City, the building, designed by deconstructivist architect Bernard Tschumi, then dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, opened in 1999, replacing the previous student center, Ferris Booth Hall, which stood from 1960 to 1996. The cafeteria in Lerner Hall still bears the name of Ferris Booth, and unlike the other large cafeteria on campus in John Jay, Ferris Booth utilizes only plastic silverware and paper plates. The building attempts to both conform to its context of neoclassical McKim, Mead, and White buildings as well as break out of their mold. In so doing, Lerner Hall features redbrick cladding and proportions that hold the street wall of university buildings along Broadway, but reveals a vast glass wall to the campus fabricated by Eiffel Constructions Metalliques, descendant of the firm that built the Eiffel Tower. Behind the wall are a series of escalating ramps that give the building a unified sense of space and are meant to act as a social meeting place much like the steps of Low Memorial Library.
Lerner Hall features both a cinema and auditorium named for Roone Arledge, a Columbia alumnus with a distinguished career in sports broadcasting and television news. The building also contains eateries, performance space, student club space, lounges, and administrative offices.
Criticism
The building began receiving harsh criticism even before it was completed. The escalating ramps have never met their purpose as a social meeting place, instead taking up valuable space and slowing movement between floors. The gigantic rectangular hole in the interior of the building caused by the ramps is the main target of criticism, as it could be used for more student and study space. The hole gives Lerner Hall a doughnut shape, as one can see all the way down to the first floor from the fifth floor. Due to space constraints, few student activities have individual offices, the vast majority receiving only locker space. The layout—particularly in the administrative areas of the building—has been described as labyrinthine. Neighbors protested that the building serves to further wall off Columbia from the community. Architecture critics have lambasted the building for managing to be simultaneously dull and offensive, and failing to conform to the beaux arts style of the surrounding campus.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Traditions
Lerner Hall is home to social events throughout the academic year. The most significant include the Varsity Show, an annual satirical musical about university life, and Glass House Rocks, in which Lerner (the "glass house") is transformed into a giant party space (the event takes its name from the former television series School House Rock) with performances from a Capella groups, bands, and dance groups.
^Pelkonen El. "In Context: Tschumi at Lerner Hall." PRAXIS: Journal of Writing+ Building. 1999 Oct 1;1(0):82-7.
^Campbell R. "Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia University, NYC: Modernism and contextualism meet at Columbia's new student center, with provocative results". Architectural Record. 1999;187:94-101.
^Danziger B, King M, Raiji A. "Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia University, New York". ARUP Journal. 2000;35(2):24-7.
^Capurso R. "Bernard Tschumi Architects/Gruzen Samton Associated Architects Lerner Hall Student Center, Columbia University, New York." Industria Delle Costruzioni. 2001:40-5.
^Rahim A, Tschumi B.(An interview with Bernard Tschumi on his collaboration with DJ-Spooky on Lerner-Hall for Columbia-University). Amodyne (2001): 17-19.
^Sowa A. "Students' Center, Lerner Hall, Columbia University, New York-Bernard Tschumi and Ove Arup architects". Architecture D'Aujourd Hui. 2000 Jul 1;329:60-3.
^Henninger P. "Special effects genereren nog geen event-architecture. Alfred Lerner Hall in New York van Bernard Tschumi." Architect-Den Haag-. 1999;30:70-5.
^Hartoonian G. Architecture and spectacle: a critique. Routledge; 2016
