The Faculty House on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University has been a collegiate landmark since 1923. And next month the redbrick and limestone building designed by McKim, Mead, and White will reopen after an 18-month top-to-bottom restoration. Retrofitted with new audiovisual technology and renovated to be more versatile, the 38,000-square-foot site is now better suited for business functions and social gatherings.
Encompassing four floors, the venue received a facelift from Bogdanow Architects, the firm responsible for Union Square Café, Telepan, and the IFC Center. The project involved recycling and repurposing building materials, installing energy-efficient appliances, and the use of water- and heat-conserving technology to meet the standards for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.
Sitting at garden level are a reception area with terrazzo floors and a marble staircase, the Ivy Lounge & Coffee Bar, and two meeting rooms, the largest of which holds 70. Above this, on what the venue calls the Seminar Level, are a 240-seat Market Café and four individual rooms, which when combined seat 366 theater-style. Smaller groups can use the third floor's 1754 boardroom that seats 24 classroom-style or the 240-square-foot Club Room on the fourth floor.
The main space for large events is the Presidential Ballroom, three large rooms and a reception foyer on the third floor that join to form a space that measures 3,475 square feet. This section seats 365 theater-style, holds 358 for receptions, or accommodates 21 exhibitor booths. The best views, however, are in the fourth-floor dining room and terrace, an area the holds 180 indoors and has room for an additional 46 outside. On-site catering can handle buffets, plated lunches and dinners, vegetarian menus, and kid-friendly dishes.
In terms of equipment for meetings, the Faculty House is now outfitted with built-in projectors, a wireless Internet network, and gear to support lighting for live broadcasts and television tapings. Throughout the venue are screens, independent volume controls, automated window shades, and a high-voltage disconnect switch, thereby eliminating the need for additional generators or extension cords.
at Columbia University's Faculty House
