US studio SHoP Architects has completed an academic building for the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City that contains a subterranean sewing lab viewable from the street and a backside atrium that links to a neighbouring building.
At 10 storeys high, the Joyce F Brown Academic Building is named after the school’s acting president and contains 24 classrooms, an auditorium, a large knitting lab, a mezzanine common area and eventually, the president’s office on the top floor.
SHoP Architects has completed an academic building at FIT in New York
It is located in Midtown Manhattan along West 28th Street, which borders the Fashion Institute of Technology‘s (FIT), two blocks of buildings.
It is lined with exhibition cases both inside and out, showcasing student work – SHoP Architects designed the building to “highlight what was happening” at the school.
The facade of the building was informed by a pre-existing building at the school
“From the outset of the project, we wanted to highlight what was happening at FIT and make it visible for the first time to the broader fashion district,” said SHoP Architects founding principal Bill Sharples.
“We’re very proud to have had a hand in presenting the creative presence of FIT to the city.”
A subterranean space is the largest knitting lab in the US, according to the team
The building is made up of two main exterior volumes – a solid, metal-panel backside and a slim glazed volume that is affixed to the front. Thin, striated louvres also line the facade.
The back of the building is connected to the campus’s main building, the Marvin Feldman Center via an enclosed atrium, which measures 15 feet wide (4.5 metres) and extends upwards along all 10 storeys.
A ten-storey atrium connects the building to another campus building on its backside
The facade of the Feldman Center, which previously faced the street, is exposed in the atrium.
According to the studio, the “distinctive tessellated aluminium skin” of the Feldman Center’s building informed the design of the Joyce F Brown building.
An open common space is located on the fifth level
“Feldman’s distinctive tessellated aluminium skin, punctuated by anodised golden window frames, served as direct inspiration for the origami-like folded metal panels that define the new facade on 28th Street,” said SHoP Architects.
“Together, the two buildings form a dynamic composition – one reflecting the heritage of design innovation, the other projecting that legacy into the future.”
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On the interior, “the largest campus knitting lab in the US” sits below-ground along the street, where passersby can look down into the double-height space to view the sewing activity below.
Also visible from street level is an auditorium for lectures and events, while classrooms and studios are located on floors two, three, four, seven, and eight.
The aluminium facade of the Feldman Center lies exposed in the atrium
On the fifth floor, an open, double-height common area spans the footprint of the building. Large windows face the street, while on the other side, the space looks over the building’s atrium, which serves as an extension of the common space.
“The atrium connects Feldman and the new academic building, creating a vertical common where the college’s past and future meet,” said the studio.
Display cases showcase student work
“This light-filled space, cathedral-like in scale and spirit, showcases student and faculty work in glass vitrines, and frames views into student making activities within Feldman Hall.”
FIT’s current president, Dr Joyce F Brown, is set to step down at the end of 2025 following a 27-year tenure. She will be succeeded by designer Jason Schupbach, who is the current Dean at Drexel’s College of Media Arts & Design in Philadelphia.
The school recently showcased an exhibition focused on accessible design created by current students and alumni, while SHoP Architects completed a Detroit office tower.
The photography is by Christopher Payne/ESTO