Work set to start on new college media center.

The second phase of an initiative to establish a consolidated computer center will start construction this spring at Lehman College.

The new Multimedia Center will serve as one of university's premier technology facilities and help create the backbone for expanding journalism and communications programs on the CUNY Bronx campus.

Designed by Fox & Fowle Architects, the center is to be housed in the basement and cellar of the existing Carman Hall and will include a video/audio studio, control rooms, edit rooms, a new Journalism/Communications Newsroom, the campus' Media Technology Services, and other administrative, classroom, conference and technical spaces.

The center had access to 10,000 square feet of space below the courtyard of Carman Hall.

With a ceiling height of 23 feet, the designers were able to carve our 20,000 square feet of usable space, including a two-story-height studio space. The technology laboratories will be available to all departments to promote the College's programs and capabilities for distance learning and media production. In addition, off-campus users will also be able to rent production and post-production space.

Fox & Fowle was challenged to create comfortable, engaging space below grade. The unique situation of being completely underground required the design to establish a presence in the open plaza, as well as spatially distinguish itself from the surrounding Carman Hall basements. Sheathed in glass, the design of the entry into the facility acts as a prismatic beacon as it breaks through the surface of the plaza to allow entry and daylight to the center below.

"The key to our design vision was to provide a direct link to the main entry level of Carman Hall and the existing exterior courtyard, both providing the public a visible face for the new facility," said Sudhir S. Jambhekar, AIA, Principal of Fox & Fowle Architects.

"To achieve this, we inserted a transparent enclosed stair tower traversed by a circulation bridge that brings daylight to the sub-grade levels and creates a beacon within the plaza.

The main design elements include the two-story studio and a two-story office curtain wall that slips through linear openings along the main circulation space.

The building's existing circular corridors are bisected by additional circulation that creates a viable link from one side of the building to the other.

The technology-oriented mission drove material selections; stainless steel and glass are predominant.