SGS has undertaken several projects in or related to the Pearl Building, an existing six-story multipurpose academic building at the New York City College of Technology. First, SGS completed a master plan, providing programming, conceptual layouts and test fits, probable construction costs, and a detailed review of existing conditions to be addressed. The latest project to result from this effort is this renovation of the third floor, a 17,000 sf space previously used for labs, offices, and ancillary functions. The renovated space will become the home to four administrative office units, each with its own design identity, all linked by a common corridor and including connections to a shared conference suite and support spaces. The project included extensive hazardous material abatement, all new building systems, AV and IT design, and a completely new layout. In addition to being the architect, SGS provided furniture, lighting, and graphic design services. The plan makes the best use of the building’s expansive floor plate while ensuring that occupants are never far from views, natural light, and a relationship to the city beyond. Bold choices of colors and materials customized for each administrative entity’s suite transform dark corridors into well-lit hallways and assist with wayfinding along the large floorplate.

Pearl Building 3rd Floor Renovations

SGS's renovation of this suite on the thirteenth floor of Columbia University's Mudd Building created a comfortable, bright workspace for professors and graduate students in the Electrical Engineering department of the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences (SEAS). The open work area runs between the corridor and private offices along the exterior wall, with large double-paned glass partitions provide abundant access to natural light and connections to the outdoors and other areas of the building. The teal acoustic baffles suspended from the ceiling not only dampen noise but also serve as a striking design feature, cut into an undulating waveform that spans the length of the suite. Open workstations for graduate students are arranged in 4-person clusters bookended by the private office of their faculty advisor and a window onto the corridor or a tackable wall for collaborative work.

Columbia University Engineering Department Offices

Club Row is a generous new hub for student extracurricular groups on the Manhattan campus of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. This interior renovation project transformed a warren of disconnected rooms into an expansive suite that invites open collaboration and fosters community activity with ample spaces for gatherings of all sizes. The heart of the project is its central club meeting area, where students can work individually or meet in small groups at custom millwork booths, which include wheelchair-accessible configurations. The booths are organized in two columns defined by their materiality: white oak woodwork enhances the internal row, while their counterparts along the curtain wall façade allow natural light to filter through their translucent acrylic. A bright, playful color palette creates a comfortable and lively atmosphere while taking the work of its student users seriously. Our design team created a wall of storage lockers assigned to individual clubs, with custom tackable covers create a geometric backdrop that will soon be decorated by pinned-up signs and flyers. A large, light-filled multipurpose room can be divided into three smaller rooms for meetings and events using movable partitions. Club Row offers dedicated club rooms for specialized student groups, such as a newsroom for the school newspaper and a soundproof recording studio, as well as a new campus store and offices for administrative staff. This project grants new agency to a diverse student body by constructing a comfortable, beautiful, and flexible facility for their independent use.

John Jay Club Row

SGS completed two administrative office suites for Columbia University’s School of Engineering & Applied Sciences (SEAS), both located in the Interchurch Center near Columbia’s main campus. The two projects include private offices, open workstation areas, meeting rooms and support spaces. Our design improves these offices’ layouts and acoustic privacy as well as upgrading their finishes, lighting and furniture to meet current university design requirements. Taking advantage of the large windows and abundant natural light, the materials, details and selection of furniture all work in harmony to create a variety of workspaces that meet the department’s current and future needs.

Columbia University SEAS Offices

SGS was proud to be selected by the Pulitzer Prize organization to renovate its offices, located at Columbia University. The goal of the project was to improve the functionality of the space, affording greater collaboration and improving the quality of the work environment, while also bringing forward the mission and identity of the Pulitzer organization. Working closely with Pulitzer leadership and staff, we developed a design approach to declutter the office and improve its appearance with custom work stations and book storage, new lighting and finishes, display and graphics.

Pulitzer Prizes Offices

In 2020, Columbia University asked SGS to create a new physics laboratory in the cellar level of the historic Pupin Hall in order to expand the research facilities specifically designed for a professor studying condensed matter and atomic, molecular and optical physics. After an extensive feasibility study to confirm the best approach, several underutilized support spaces were combined to create a new, high-performing lab, which includes three scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) chambers and ancillary spaces. The ten-foot deep STM chambers required subsurface imaging to locate bedrock below the building and were constructed using a unique concrete wall design free of any steel reinforcing that would interfere with the scanning technology used in these locations. These environmentally isolated and sound-proofed chambers are clustered near supporting areas for equipment and storage, as well as lab space for analysis and computation. The project is now complete and fully operational.

Columbia University Physics Lab

In 2018, as part of its ongoing efforts to provide accessibility enhancements across the campus, Columbia University asked SGS to reconfigure the entryway to Havemeyer Hall, an historic McKim, Mead and White building that is home to its chemistry department, to improve student access and to make the building ADA compliant. SGS’s design for a new exterior ramp and entry door, altering the façade and interior lobby and office spaces, preserved the original features and historic details notable in this elegant 1897 building while adapting its design to provide functional, secure and dignified wheelchair access. The Havemeyer Hall ramp and entry was planned not only to address this particular structure but also as a prototype for similar entry points campus-wide.

Havemeyer Hall Entrance Redesign

In 2018 SGS was invited to design the renovation of an existing lab and support spaces in the Sherman Fairchild building to provide a completely new facility for molecular biology, microscopy and chemistry research. The project was developed around the specific needs and functional requirements of a new professor in the Department of Biology, and necessitated a complete renovation of the lab, along with an ancillary support space in an adjacent lab building and an upgrade to the research team’s office area. The project includes all new bench space, equipment, distribution of lab services and two fume hoods. The program also includes a laser facility that can be subdivided into four separate zones, each of which operates independently. The project was completed in 2019 and has been in active use since that time by the professor and his team.

Columbia University Biochemistry Lab

In 2018 the Arts and Science Chemistry Department at Columbia University selected SGS to fully renovate a lab on the fourth floor of Havemeyer Hall, a national landmark designed by McKim Meade and White that is used as a teaching and research facility. The project was undertaken to accommodate a recent recruit to the university, with the goal of providing dedicated research space and returning the 2,800 sf lab to its highest and best use. The design team closely analyzed the existing conditions and identified a way to capture additional space that was located outside the existing lab area, enabling the department to capitalize on this resource to benefit the project. The reconfiguration provided more storage and support space and improved the layout and design of the main research lab. The program includes a BSL2 tissue culture room, cold rooms, ample bench space for centrifuges, microscopes and other equipment, and multiple fume hoods. It also includes a “future hires” space, which was conceived of as a separate lab but one that, if necessary, could also function as an annex to the main lab space.

Columbia University Chemistry Lab

Alongside the numerous research labs, offices and student spaces that SGS has designed for Columbia University, the Lenfest Café was another opportunity to upgrade an existing facility into an attractive and more functional asset for the University. Completed in just a few months, the project consisted of all new systems and furnishings, and an improved layout to bring a fresh, contemporary feel to this much used food service outlet in the heart of the Columbia Law School. An adjacent dining and assembly space was also upgraded with new finishes and furniture.

Columbia University Lenfest Cafe

In late 2016 SGS was asked to provide a series of improvements and renovations in Lerner Hall, the main student building on campus, to better serve the student body. A series of sequential moves in a multi-phased project enabled the university to provide a properly sized and located computer lab, two executive conference rooms and support spaces, and two centrally located lounge spaces with views and visual connections to the entire building. The project also included the replacement of a large operable wall separating the ground floor auditorium space from the upper balcony theater seating, to address longstanding acoustic performance issues. The project was completed in 2018 and has proven popular with students and with the building’s administration.

Lerner Hall Student Center

 was outgrowing their Red Hook office and needed a dedicated warehouse to store their growing tool and salvaged parts collection, as well as a classroom space to lead their popular workplace development courses. SGS designed a multi-functional office space in Gowanus that serves their mission dedicated to the preservation of affordable housing for low-income residents of New York City. The design makes the most of the limited budget by incorporating its open MEP systems and simple construction details such as exposed fasteners and materials edges as visual lessons for the non-profit's staff and their construction workforce trainees. SGS also created a custom mural, painted by our designers, that features stylized maps of the five boroughs on a tackboard wall, so that RTNYC's team can track their projects across the city with pins.

Rebuilding Together NYC Offices

SGS has worked regularly for the NYC School Construction Authority, completing renovations of several school libraries and bringing them up to contemporary use as multi-functional digital media centers.

School Construction Authority Libraries

SGS was selected to design the new pro-bono legal clinic within the Columbia Law School, a law office where students meet with real clients under the supervision of faculty. The space allocated for the project included a large windowless mechanical room and an interior office space on the floor below. Our design connects these spaces through a new interior staircase, strategically positioned under an existing roof hatch that became a dramatic skylight. The law clinic is animated by the introduction of natural light throughout the suite and the use of a bold material palette. Its layout flexibly supports a wide range of activities, and its program includes a reception area, booths for individual or small group work, a large meeting room, a computer lab, offices, and built-in spaces for informal interaction.

Columbia University Law Clinic

SGS has worked regularly for the NYC School Construction Authority, designing several teaching lab classrooms and converting regular classroom space into chemistry labs with their complex needs for ventilation and plumbing.

School Construction Authority Laboratories

SGS’s work at John Jay College of Criminal Justice includes the Digital Creation Lab, a new state-of-the-art educational suite that will support flexible academic formats as the College’s model of instruction evolves. The Digital Creation Lab is designed to support the seamless integration of hybrid modes of teaching and learning through the strategic use of AV/IT technologies embedded in its architectural design. Three comfortable video recording booths lined with colorful sound-insulating material provide faculty with a dedicated space to record or present live their teaching materials, and for students to record digital presentations. Down the hall, a custom millwork sliding door reveals a large classroom equipped with advanced recording technology that serves as a space where in-person classes may be recorded for asynchronous use. Overall, the design maximizes available natural light while also providing the necessary sound isolation to enable effective recording and communication. Colorful finishes give a distinct and welcoming identity to the space while also taking the work of the students seriously. Beyond its dedicated recording and classroom spaces, The Digital Creation Lab also takes into account the informal needs of faculty and students with generous open workstations and comfortable places to rest and study between classes.

John Jay Digital Labs

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