New York University today released the projected construction schedule for the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for University Life. The Kimmel Center, which will contain the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, will replace and be built on the site of the Loeb Student Center, at the southwest corner of Washington Square South and LaGuardia Place. This initial schedule will be updated as new information or circumstances require.
For two decades, NYU has been embarked on a transformation from a good regional university to a prestigious national and international research institution. As the University’s programs have increasingly drawn students from around the country and around the world, NYU has expanded its residential program in the area of its Washington Square Campus. Over time, the Loeb Student Center has proven inadequate to accommodate the needs of student activities at NYU; in recent years, fully half of the requests to use space at Loeb were denied because of its small size. The Kimmel Center will provide substantially more space for University activities.
New York University, despite its international reputation for its programs in the cinematic, dramatic and performing arts, has not had a large, modern, fully-equipped performing arts space. Accordingly, the new Kimmel Center has also been designed to include the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, a state-of-the-art, 1,000-seat performing arts facility which can support a wide variety of programs.
The Kimmel Center was designed by Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo Associates, a renowned architectural firm whose work includes the Ford Foundation Building, the Holocaust Memorial/Museum of Jewish Heritage, and projects at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
New York University, which was established in Greenwich Village in 1831, is one of the largest and most prestigious private research universities in the U.S. Through its 13 schools and colleges, NYU conducts research and provides education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, dentistry, education, nursing, business, the cinematic and performing arts, social work, public administration and policy, and continuing studies, among other areas.