Best of 2005 Awards

Columbia University Lenfest Hall

Award of Merit: High Rise Residential

Columbia Law School has a dormitory to call its own.

Lenfest Hall at Columbia University, unlike traditional dorms with shared bathrooms and cramped space, boasts 211 furnished apartments with their own kitchens and bathrooms.

"It's a very complicated building," one Best of 2005 juror said. "I think Lenfest was an absolute winner. It's a spectacular project."

The $31.3 million building, completed last year, has 181 studios, 29 one-bedroom units, and one two-bedroom unit. The studios range in size from 320 to 412 sq. ft. and the one-bedroom units have 380 to 648 sq. ft.

The site at West 121st Street between Morningside Drive and Amsterdam Avenue, near the school's main campus, was steep and undeveloped. The team chose to incorporate some of the towering bedrock into the project by excavating rock into rough sculpture, which now offers seating and features decorative gravel and stone paving.

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The school wanted the 122,100-sq.-ft., 16-story structure to provide law students with attractive, first-class housing at market value. It also wanted a residential building that would integrate with the surrounding neighborhood - a goal the jury saw achieved.

"I was impressed by the way Lenfest blended into the community," one juror said.

To complement the neighborhood's architecture, the front façade of the building has brick on the upper portion with details on the bay window section that serve as a modern interpretation of those found in surrounding buildings. Cornices elsewhere also match adjacent structures. The lower seven stories have a brick, limestone, and granite face, while glass panels surround the water tower at the zenith.

The school offers three-year leases to the law students, who typically graduate in that time frame. The building has amenities such as lounges, seminar rooms, and recreation spaces.

Key Players

Owner: Columbia University

Architect: Gruzen Samton

Construction Manager: Bovis Lend Lease

Structural Engineer: DeSimone Consulting Engineers

Mechanical-Electrical Engineer: Flack + Kurtz

Landscape Consultant: Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects

Geotechnical Consultant: Langan Engineering & Environmental Services