Lehman Library GSAS Writing Studio

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Writing Studio occupies a mezzanine within a large reading room of the mid-century-modern Lehman Library building on West 118th Street. MAD had several working meetings with the writing studio to establish the programmatic requirements and priorities within the department to carve out the required uses in the compact space within the library.

Several schemes were reviewed to find the formal layout that would work best with the program and not overwhelm the studio space. The options included discussion of various use adjacencies that would consider both the solo and collaborative elements of writing. This intervention involved enclosing the mezzanine and repurposing it for use by graduate level writing students working on their theses. The program necessitates areas for individual study as well as group meetings. Our design sought to skillfully balance the library’s existing aesthetic with an open-feeling, modern, and flexible environment for budding authors.