Instead of a single room, the new center now comprises four rooms. The original space now houses new cardio equipment and locker rooms, while a second space—built across from the original one—houses free weights and weightlifting machines. New windows looking onto the plaza were also added to both rooms, dramatically increasing the center’s visibility and access to natural light.

For cardio workouts, there are five treadmills, 10 elliptical bicycles that offer both recumbent and upright seating and large video screens and interactive programming, two rowing machines, and a stair climber.

For core workouts, there are six machines—a glute coaster, back extension, abs bench x3, rotary torso, vertical crunch, and the tire flip 180, which simulates the experience of lifting half a tractor tire. There are also free weights, medicine balls, and a boxing bag.

The weight room features free weights and 10 machines that can be used for multiple exercises. These include an FTS glide-functional training machine, a pulldown/row machine, pec fly/dec, leg curl/extension, a leg press, a bicep/tricep machine, an inner/outer thigh machine, a shoulder press, and a chest press.

The locker rooms were also completely rebuilt, with lockers constructed of heavy plastic instead of metal, and showers and stalls equipped with doors with airplane bathroom-style locks. Lockers are available to rent for all members of the Fordham community for $50 per semester, or $75 for the year. Those interested should contact the office of residential life at Lincoln Center at (212) 636-7100 or [email protected].

Two new studio rooms were also created, increasing the footprint of the center from 3,700 to 6,400 square feet. Those spaces were outfitted with specially designed floors and equipment that will appeal to those interested in barre, movement, yoga, and Pilates.

New Activities in New Spaces

Jenifer Campbell, Ed.D., dean of students at Lincoln Center, said that the spaces will allow for both an expansion of current programming, such as Ignatian yoga sponsored by the Department of Mission and Ministry, and new offerings that will be announced in the coming weeks.

“It gives students an opportunity to work out some of the frustrations and stress that they may have related to class and everyday life situations,” she said.

“It helps promote some of those healthier activities that they ought to be engaged in, and it’s convenient because they don’t have to go outside of the University to have that opportunity to exercise,” she said.

The University was able to expand into the space because Health Services and the COVID testing center, which previously occupied the area, were relocated to 140 W. 62 Street and the Lowenstein South Lounge, respectively. It opened to the University community on Jan. 17.

After soliciting feedback from students last year, Campbell turned to Joseph Scaltro, director of engineering services at Lincoln Center, and Sarah Bickford, administrator of fitness and recreation, to design the new center. Bickford helped design the Ram Fit Center that opened in the Joseph M. McShane, S.J., campus center last spring, so she had a good idea of how a similar facility at Lincoln Center should look.

Bickford said her goal was to make the space as intuitive and welcoming as possible. Some of that is accomplished by replacing bulky equipment with smaller, sleeker models with ample signage and QR codes that direct users to instructional videos.

It’s also achieved by thoughtful consideration of layout and design touches like window screens that, when installed, will both shield exercisers from the sun glare and keep the facility from feeling like a fishbowl, with everyone on display.

“There are lots of things that come into play when you’re laying things out. It’s not about just putting machines down,” Bickford said.

“There are lots of other things, like the flooring and the lighting. What can people see? What are the privacy issues?”

Working to design the fitness center at Rose Hill made her realize that for students, the COVID pandemic had spurred them to rethink the purpose of a gym. It’s no longer just the place to bulk up and get fit.

“There are so many reasons why people come to the gym, and a big piece of that is mental health. That doesn’t mean you have to come for hours at a time—you could come in and just do a 20-minute workout. So, the less intimidating it is and the easier it is to come in, the better,” she said.

The center will be open from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the weekends. It will be closed for cleaning and restocking daily from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

But when the 71,000-square-foot, four-story addition to the McGinley Center officially opens today, Feb. 1, it will introduce to the Fordham community a radically different sort of space, filled with places to relax, recharge, and connect.

Get Your Sweat On

One of the highlights of this new building addition will be the expanded fitness center, which at 20,000 square feet occupies the lower level of both the new building addition and the existing McGinley Center. The brand new, brightly lit space, which is illuminated by both overhead lighting and sunlight from ceiling windows facing the front of the building, is dedicated to 100 pieces of state-of-the-art weight-training equipment. The existing space will continue to be used for cardio equipment, assuring shorter wait times. One of the newest pieces of equipment is a climbing simulator known as a Jacob’s Ladder. (The fitness center is currently operating at reduced capacity due to COVID-19 regulations.)

Eagle-eyed visitors heading to a newly offered yoga session in one of the two new classrooms might notice that the arches of the original McGinley Center have been left as unfinished concrete, not painted white like the rest of the wall. It’s a small, subtle touch meant to acknowledge the past, said Larry Peifer, the lead designer for architecture firm HLW International LLP. A similar sensibility influenced the choice of the new addition’s Corinthian granite façade, which is the same material on the outside of the Rose Hill Gym next door.

“We’ve kind of remixed Fordham’s architectural palate. We took these materials you see elsewhere, whether its Corinthian granite, limestone terrazzo, oak, or bronze, sampled them, and used them in a new way,” he said.

A Home Away from Home

The first floor presents two distinctly different yet equally inviting common spaces: the student lounge and the gallery.

Boasting 17-foot ceilings, the lounge is an airy, semi-industrial space, with an unfinished concrete ceiling and exposed wiring above. The furnishings offer a mix of practicality and fun; sitting upon the terrazzo floor are tables, chairs, couches, a foosball table, and a pool table. Further on, a table large enough for a gathering of 16 is sectioned off by a dropdown ceiling; beyond that are private, glass-enclosed meeting rooms.

John P Gering, managing partner for HLW, said the goal for the 9,500-square-foot lounge has always been to make it feel like a place where resident and commuter students alike can mingle and relax.

“It feels less like a classroom environment. It’s very informal, there are lots of touchpoints for laptops and things of that nature,” he said.

The gallery, a multi-level glass-covered space linking together the addition with the existing McGinley Center, is open to the addition now. After the third phase of construction is complete, the walls will come down, and a newly refurbished

marketplace dining facility replacing the existing dining space will be seamlessly connected to the other spaces.

Its defining characteristic is natural light, which streams down over the two overhead walkways connecting the second floors of the new building addition and McGinley, past the 20-foot retractable movie screen hanging from the ceiling, and onto the floor and walls, where the stone engravings of the Stations of the Cross are embedded. At night, the engravings will be illuminated.

Career Services and Campus Ministry

The second floor is shared by the expanded offices of the Career Center, Campus Ministry, and the Center for Community Engaged Learning.

The new Career Center space features a lounge with a rough-hewn ceiling similar to the student lounge that’s bathed in light from windows in the front of the building. Also included in the suite are a pantry and 10 interview rooms outfitted with noise dampening panels and electronic glass walls that can be turned opaque with a light switch. Career services director Annette McLaughlin said in a 2020 interview that it’s her intention that the department is “a destination, not a checklist,” for students.

“I want to create a career center for cura personalis. This is all about mind, body, and spirit as it relates to how you find your pathway in the world,” she said.

Next door is a hub for students’ quest for deeper meaning in their lives. In addition to offices, the Campus Ministry and the Center for Community Engaged Learning feature two reflection rooms, a room with a widescreen suitable for conferences, and several smaller spaces available for gatherings.

John Cecero, S.J., vice president for mission integration and ministry, said he’s excited to bring together two departments within the division that had previously been in separate spaces.

“There’s much more common space for people to use, and I think that will foster collaboration both between these two departments and with others within the University. That is a major goal for us,” he said.

A New Vista for a New Era

Arguably the most breathtaking view is from the top floor, where the 28-foot ceiling is open to the sky like the gallery next to it. The 4,390-square-foot multipurpose space also reflects Fordham’s Catholic identity, with the Stations of the Cross occupying a central place on the back wall. The views from the top floor—the New York Botanical Garden to the north, Bahoshy Field to the west, and Hughes Hall and Edwards Parade to the south—give a new perspective to a familiar locale. Embedded in the wooden drop-down ceiling are acoustic panels, audiovisual equipment, and darkening shades that can be easily deployed for presentations.

Gering said the space, which can accommodate as many as 196 people in the main room and 147 in another, smaller room, is part of the firm’s dedication to the neo-Gothic aesthetic of the Rose Hill campus. Traditional gothic buildings are built with a portal entry and a main entry next to a tower that leads to a large aisle connecting to an altar, he said. This will be the case when a glass arcade between the new building addition and the Rose Hill Gym is completed in the second phase of construction.

“As you enter the building, you enter next to a tower, which is a beacon on campus. Then you walk through the arcade, which is similar to the aisle in Gothic architecture, and rather than walking to an altar or chapel, you proceed up to the next level, which is this grand board room and multifunction room,” he said.

“This is shifting the heart of the campus. The idea is that it is truly a campus center that brings everyone together with amenities, gathering places, and wellness programs and spaces that respond to that. It’ll be the new landmark of the university.”

The new building addition is the first of three phases that the center will undergo as part of a radical transformation that will culminate in 2025. When finished, the entire project will reflect Fordham’s history while giving visitors a modern space to convene and relax.

“If it’s going to be a building that really feels like the University and is taking the University someplace new—but not someplace that it doesn’t recognize—it has to have a certain spirit and a poetic weight that feels contemporary,” Gering said.

“Fordham has such a strong history and rich personality; we didn’t want anything to feel like it was foreign.”