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 Steven Holl Architects

RUBENSTEIN COMMONS, INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY

Princeton, NJ, United States. 2022

Description +

PROGRAM: meeting rooms, an indoor/outdoor café, living room, gallery of campus historyand several offices.

CLIENT: Institute for Advanced Study

SIZE: 17,175 sf

STATUS: complete

First place in Competition, 2016

The Rubenstein Commons at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, NJ, established in 1930, is a new commons building on the historic campus. It is sited near the Institute’s flagship 1939 building Fuld Hall where Albert Einstein spent his last thinking years.

The design for Rubenstein Commons is driven by the concept of intertwining. Exterior circulation weaves into and through the building. The building is conceived as a social condenser with a variety of flexible meeting spaces supporting community and academic life on the IAS campus. The new building follows the existing topography primarily in a single level program with gradual slopes and offers views of the courtyards.

The building forms an intertwining through the landscape, connecting with pools of water on the north, south, and west. The pools reflect sunlight into interior spaces, producing an atmosphere of reflection. Natural phenomena connect with science, physics, humanities, and art—corresponding to the Institute’s mission.

The geometry of the spaces is formed by “space curves” where two non-planar curves intersect. As former IAS Director Robbert Dijkgraaf remarks, the curved ceilings give space for “thought bubbles” of the scholars.

Blackboards of natural slate, a storied tradition for intellectual curiosity and exchange at the IAS, line the interiors. Prismatic glass breaks white light into the color spectrum, energizing the interiors with natural light and color. Custom hand-blown light fixtures illuminate the curved ceiling geometry. Door handles inspired by knot theory and custom waterspouts greet visitors at the east and west entries to the building.

The landscape around the pools measures the time of a year’s passing through the four seasons. Spring is marked on the east side with pink blooming redbuds emerging in clusters along branches of the grove. Summer is marked to the south with rich green leaves of ginkgo trees, accented by Russian Sage purple flowers. Fall is marked to the west with vibrant red maples and the golden gingko leaves provide a striking contrast around the south reflecting pool. The north gardens are framed with a border of white pines and American hollies providing a green backdrop in the winter but also year-round.

20 geothermal wells powered by the cycle of the earth’s seasonal temperature heat and cool the building with radiant floors. Natural ventilation in wood framed windows bring light and air into all spaces.

Ecological Innovation +

– Geothermal heating & cooling
– Natural light galleries
– Transparent glass cavity wall
– Rainwater harvesting
– Green roofs
– Active slab conditioning with displacement air humidity control

Videos +

  • Space Curve Light Fixture

Credits +

  • architect

    - Steven Holl Architects

    Steven Holl (design architect, principal)

    Noah Yaffe (partner in charge)

    Christina Yessios (project architect, associate)

    Yun Shi (assistant project architect)

    Michael Haddy (detail designer)

    Marcus Carter, Alessandra Catherine Calaguire, Magdalena Naydekova (project team)

    Xi Chen, Carolina Cohen Freue, Michael Haddy, Elise Riley (competition team)

  • structural engineer

    - Guy Nordenson and Associates

  • mechanical engineer

    - Icor Associates

  • interior design

    - Steven Holl Architects

  • landscape architects

    - Hollander Design Landscape Architects

  • climate engineer

    - Transsolar

  • lighting design

    - L’Observatoire International

  • façade consultant

    - Knippers Helbig

  • general contractor

    - W.S. Cumby Inc.

Quotes +

  • Anya Bokov, Lessons from the Social Condensers “Instead of precisely defining the activities inside it, the Rubenstein Commons creates a space between —not just between walls, but between life and architecture. Like a hadron collider, the building smashes atoms (or, to paraphrase David Rubenstein, collides great brains together), in order to expand the horizon of our knowledge and collective human consciousness. It is not simply about giving form to life but rather allowing life to unfold in its most unpredictable form.”

News +

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