Since 1892, the all-boys Collegiate School operated out of three historic buildings on Broadway and West 78th Street, but the institution recently announced plans to move to a new, modern campus at West 62nd Street and West End Avenue. Architecture firm GLUCK+ was hired to design the building, and renderings show a boxy glass structure with lots of natural light, open spaces, and modern amenities. Even though the old school was seriously outdated?the Journal notes that classrooms did not have air conditioning, teachers shuttled between rooms, and English classes had to use biology labs?many people, including school officials, don't want to leave the worn old buildings.
"There is this pride in how limited the facilities are," headmaster Lee Levison told the Journal. "That we can have this kind of building yet generate some of the most creative and thoughtful and talented high school graduates in the country. It wasn't a function of having a shiny new building." Collegiate will move into its new building by 2016. It will have nine floors above ground and two below, plus a larger library and outdoor play space. Peter Gluck said "the building will be impressive, it will be an event in New York, but it won't be flashy." In April, the Observer posted a few renderings of the interior, showing the creative common spaces and flowing connections between floors.
· Old School Patrons Wary of New Look [WSJ]
· Kickin' Out Old School: Puffed Up Prepsters Warily Eye Collegiate's Modern Move [NYO]
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