Located on West 62nd Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues, the new Fordham University School of Law at Lincoln Center serves as the centerpiece for the first phase of Fordham University’s 15-year Upper West Side campus master plan. Designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Architects, the 22-story, 468,000-square-foot, LEED Silver-certified building features a 2-story atrium, moot and trial courtrooms, a 562,000-volume law library, and a residence hall containing student housing and apartments for faculty. The lower 9 floors of the tower, comprising the law school, feature a precast checkerboard façade, while the upper stories, containing housing for over 400 undergraduate students, are clad in an aluminum and glass curtain wall. The building forms a series of undulating arcs that gesture toward the School’s neighbor, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Poulin + Morris worked with the architects and the University in developing a comprehensive environmental graphics, donor recognition, and wayfinding sign program for the new building. Taking Fordham University’s and Fordham School of Law’s existing seals, the designers oversaw the carving of these insignia into limestone to create a distinguished exterior identification for the School. Large-scale, elaborately carved crests greet students, faculty, staff, and visitors at both the north and south entrances while Fordham University School of Law is boldly carved above each entryway.

The curves of the building’s architecture are reflected throughout the School’s interior environmental graphics program. The donor recognition wall features a series of over 200 curved cast acrylic panels inscribed with donor names creating a wavelike effect. Appearing in gold, silver, and white to signify the varying donor levels, the alternating colors of the panels enhance the bas-relief of the limestone donor recognition wall. Also echoing the curved architectural form of the School, photopolymer base building panels feature a recessed notch in which stainless steel donor recognition panels can be attached. Digitally printed vision barriers and distraction bands also prominently feature custom patterns composed in translucent vinyl of interlocking curves that mimic the building’s exterior, convey a sense of movement, and provide varying levels of privacy for glass entrances to the dining hall, seminar rooms, and offices.

Fordham School of Law at Lincoln Center’s new home more than doubles its program, event, and office space while providing a distinct identity that seamlessly integrates with its iconic surroundings.