Students Preview Rising Barnard Nexus

Ever wonder what’s going on behind the blue tarps covering Barnard’s long-awaited student center, the Nexus? Now, some students know.

Over the winter, a small group of architecture students toured the construction site, guided by Karen Fairbanks, chair of Barnard’s Department of Architecture.

According to Lisa Gamsu, vice president of Administration and Capital Planning, the Nexus is now about 55 percent complete, and is scheduled to open in spring 2010. Since the Student Government Association and the administration are contemplating the idea of providing Nexus tours to a broader audience, students may not have to wait that long to get a feel for the building.

Students initially learned of the opportunity to visit the Nexus site through the Architecture Society. Those interested signed a waiver, donned hard hats, and entered the building through the basement, avoiding the pieces of scrap metal and wire covering the floor.

Kate Reggev, BC ’09, who was among the group of students on the tour, said she was impressed with the progress. “Obviously, it’s missing walls but you can see where everything’s going to be,” she sad. The new building will include a 100-seat performance theater, 500-seat multi-use space, café, dining room, study space, classrooms, social spaces, meeting rooms, academic offices, art studios, and exhibition spaces.

“I think the Nexus is really a great addition to Barnard.” Reggev said. “Too bad I won’t get to use it.”

For Anastasia Kostrominova, BC ’10, the tour was particularly meaningful. Having interned for a year at Weiss/Manfredi, the architecture firm that designed the Nexus, she contributed to the building by working on construction drawings and selecting materials and colors for the interior.

Kostrominova expressed her satisfaction with the construction of the new studios that will increase the space given to the architecture department, which is shared by Columbia and Barnard.

Kostrominova said she appreciated Barnard’s efforts to improve its architecture department but showed less enthusiasm for Columbia’s current facilities. “Columbia needs to be more considerate of the resources it provides for architecture students,” she said. “Around 2 a.m., there’s a big fat rat that goes around the studio. They probably even named it by now.” Columbia’s architecture studios are found in the basement of Schermerhorn, and its windows directly face a dumpster.

While the architecture students’ tour had an educational purpose, Reni Calister, head of the SGA Nexus Initiative and SGA class of 2011 president said that once the weather gets warmer, more students might be invited “to show student body representatives that the Nexus is not just some fantasy.” And, within the next couple of weeks, students passing by the construction will notice the blue tarps being replaced by an orange-tinted glass “curtain wall.” The installment of this wall will begin at the lowest level, travel around the building, then creep up one floor at a time until all the floors are covered, creating the effect of a curtain going up to reveal the new structure.

In the meantime, as a sign once posted by the construction site read, students will continue to “Imagine the Nexus.”