Gateway Center, Westchester Community College

Valhalla, NY, USA

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/ESTO

Photo © Aislinn Weidele/Ennead Architects

Photo © Jeff Goldberg/ESTO

Architects: ennead architects

Year: 2010

The new Gateway Center serves as both an initial expression of campus identity and a defining threshold to the College. The building will serve as a welcome center for the college at large, as well as provide dedicated spaces for language, fashion, business and professional development programs. The building is defined by two wings that embrace a green courtyard and are connected by a multi-story transparent glass lobby and welcome center. This daylit volume forms both the gateway to the campus and the entry to the building, and the transparency allows the landscape to visually extend into the building. The zinc volume that forms the upper level of the north wing appears to float above the ground plane, and daylight is filtered through a delicate steel sunscreen into a series of seminar rooms at its southern edge. A slender zinc-clad tower serves as a vertical punctuation within the overall composition. Sustainable design strategies were integral to the design, from the overall siting and building massing strategy to the incorporation of energy efficient systems and the development of details and selection of materials, including locally quarried stone, zinc and glass. The design minimizes disruption of the local ecology by setting the building into its natural slope and preserving existing trees. The building is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.