Student Center @ Alexander House

The renovation of this historic residence on Castle Point in Hoboken created a new student center, administrative offices, and club spaces for Stevens Institute of Technology. The university wanted to preserve the historic appearance of this prominent 19th century building while creating a space that serves many facets of the campus community. MAD redeveloped the building, previously segmented into four faculty apartments, into much needed student and administrative spaces.

MAD collaborated with the institutes leadership and user groups to develop programming that would benefit the campus as a whole. Existing programming in the Jacobus and Howe buildings were assessed and compared to the available space in the Alexander House and prioritized to meet the space available. Hand sketches and models were used to convey the feeling of the new programs proposed for the familiar and historic spaces. Renderings from those models were later used by SIT Development for marketing and fundraising campaigns.

Student activity spaces were placed on the first floor in large rooms with generous ceiling heights. Offices and meeting rooms were located on the floor above, and student organization and clubs occupy the third floor with its characteristic pitched ceilings and dormer windows. Important historic interior finishes were preserved, but the majority of surfaces were reinstalled new since the building was fully abated and demolished down to its basic structure.