Ballinger completed the design for Adelphi University’s Nexus Building located in Garden City, New York.

In 1928, McKim, Mead and White master planned the Adelphi University campus along an east/west axis and designed its first three buildings including Levermore Hall. In 1963, Richard Neutra created a new master plan that changed the campus orientation loosely focusing it along a north/south lawn. Neutra then designed the modern Swirbul Library sited adjacent to Levermore Hall. The juxtaposition of McKim, Mead and White with Neutra created a purposeful tension between a Classical and Modernist vision of the campus that resonates today.

The Nexus Building redefines the campus entrance experience and identity, and its siting and design reconciles the relationship between these two important campus buildings, one Classical and the other Modern.

The client’s aspiration for a catalyst connecting the academic and community constituencies provided the elements to make the Nexus Building a central focus of the campus. The building brings together the University’s academic mission with its outreach to the community. It houses academic programs, student support services, various administrative functions, and an academic Commons. The LEED Gold design concentrates the dense program spaces along the parking side allowing the Commons to spatially open up to the campus. The building’s transparency makes it visually inviting from the outside and a vibrant place on the inside.

Architect: Ballinger
Photography: James Ewing, Jeff Goldberg