41 Cooper square is the new building for The Copper Union Advancement of Science and Art campus. It was designed by Thom Mayne, one of the founders of Morphosis Architects. This building is located in the East Village neighborhood of New York City on Third Avenue between East 6th and 9th streets; where once the School of Art Abraham Hewitt was located. It is a nine stories high building and has a size of 175,000 square feet in a site area of 0.4 acres. The site where it is located consists of low to mid-rise buildings as well as residential spaces. Since it is an Academic building, the people using this building are students enrolled for Art, Architecture or Engineering major, as well as the faculty and staff working there. The architect designed this building from in to out, starting with the atrium or also called central piazza. .
The atrium works as the meeting point where most of the social interaction occurs. Classrooms, offices, studios and laboratories surround it. The form of the atrium was created by carving out program space and circulation paths. A steel lattice envelope covers the structure and reaches the entire height of the building. The atrium is purposely made evident on the facade by a large cutaway that reveals the atrium to the public. The facade of this building is made out of a semi transparent perforated stainless steel curtain, which allows the people on the street to maintain visual connection between the people in the building and the outside. This visual transparency and the accessible public spaces of this structure engage the building with its urban surroundings. This building was designed as a tool to promote social interaction and meeting opportunities between faculties from the three schools. .
The 20 feet wide grand staircase, which welcomes students, staff and visitors, ascends from the ground floor and terminates in a glazed student lounge where people are able to survey and admire the city on the fourth floor.
