Gensler

An artist’s rendering of a crit gallery in the new AAP NYC space that will occupy the 20th floor of 26 Broadway.

Before the year is out, AAP NYC – the New York City-based program of Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning – will have a new home at historic 26 Broadway in Lower Manhattan.

The freshly signed 10-year lease is for the entire 20th floor – 11,114 square feet of studio, classroom, gallery and lecture space to house graduate and undergraduate programs in architecture, planning and art.

“The mission of AAP NYC is to offer Cornell design and planning students the opportunity to study complex urban design challenges in situ, so we are delighted to be moving to this spectacular space in a landmark building in the heart of a burgeoning creative community,” said Kent Kleinman, the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of AAP. “We will have sweeping 360-degree views, natural light for all our studios, and a network of subway connections under our feet.”

Each semester, AAP NYC at 26 Broadway will be home to around 50 students majoring in architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, and fine art. Students will spend a semester in residence in New York City taking a full complement of coursework taught by a combination of Ithaca-based and New York City-based faculty and expert consultants and critics.

Designed by a Gensler team led by Maddy Burke-Vigeland, the new AAP NYC space will be customized to meet current and future programming needs, allowing flexibility for additional programming without disrupting classroom and studio activity. It will feature studio workstations, a 1,000-square-foot lecture room that will be dividable into classroom space, meeting and art studio space and crit areas.

“Helping to realize the vision of a robust New York City presence for my alma mater has been exciting and rewarding,” said Gensler’s founder, Arthur Gensler ’57, B.Arch. ’58. “I’ve long supported AAP NYC and believe this new location will elevate it to the level and prominence it deserves.”

The building at 26 Broadway, the home of Standard Oil from 1885 to 1956, was designated a New York City landmark in 1995.

AAP NYC is staffed by Executive Director Robert Balder, who earned a Cornell bachelor’s degree in urban and regional studies in 1989, and program coordinator Brooke Moyse. The program has been housed on the 5,000-square-foot second floor of 50 W. 17th St. since it was founded in 2006.

Aaron Goldweber is communications director for the College of Architecture, Art and Planning.