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.”

More space. Calming, relaxing, and inspiring space. Space for meeting friends and colleagues. Any way you look at it, the new campus center under construction at the Rose Hill campus will be a radically different space when it is completed in 2025.

That’s one of the key takeaways of architectural renderings of the center that lead architect HLW International LLP released this month. The center, which will join a brand new, 71,000-square-foot, four-level structure together with the existing McGinley Center, the Rose Hill Gym, and the Lombardi Center, will dramatically increase the amenities available for students, faculty, and staff on campus.

Construction and renovations will take place in two phases. In the first phase, a new structure will be erected in front of the existing McGinley Center. This new addition is estimated to cost $85 million. Once that building is finished in August 2021, the two will be joined together by an arcade that will also extend over the space adjacent to the Rose Hill Gym. The next phase of work will renovate the interior spaces of the existing McGinley Center.

A Space Where All Are Welcome

The first phase of construction will bring online several areas that will enhance the quality of life for students and the entire campus community. The first floor will be dominated by a 9,500-square-foot lounge that spans nearly the entire floor and will be outfitted with seating arrangements catering to groups and individuals.

HLW managing partner John Gering said the firm’s charge is to design a space that feels like a “home away from home” and encourages commuter students and resident students to comingle in new ways. The layouts of the first floor of Hughes Hall and the Starbucks in Dealy Hall offer a good template, he said.

“Everyone’s in there, hanging out. There are different types of seating arrangements and different heights of seating,” he said.

“If someone wants to cuddle up in a corner with a laptop, they can do that, or if they want to be part of a bigger table, they can do that too. The new lounge area really emulates that.”

The second floor of the new addition will feature expanded offices dedicated to Career Services, Campus Ministry, and the Center for Community Engaged Learning. The third floor will have a large, versatile space specifically designed for meetings and special events.

A Focus on Sports and Fitness

Getting your sweat on will be the name of the game on the basement level of the unified center, in a space that is double that of the current fitness center. A new, state-of-the-art 20,000-square-foot fitness center will be open to all students, faculty, and staff. Fordham Athletics will gain 16,000 square feet of space; a modern strength and conditioning center will occupy 10,000 square feet of that space, while the rest will be devoted to offices and meeting space, as well as a refueling station where student-athletes can grab nutritious food and drinks after training. There will also be “Grab and Go”-style retail facilities and vending machines on the first floor and the gym, for quick access.

Fordham’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics David Roach noted that moving into the campus center will free up sorely needed space in other areas of Fordham’s athletics facilities. The current strength and conditioning center underneath the grandstand at Coffey Field will become an outdoor sports medicine room, for instance.

“By getting additional space in the new student center, it frees up other spaces in the athletics footprint and we can provide things and do things that are great for our student-athletes,” he said.

“Anything that’s a plus for the University and addresses the needs of students is good for student-athletes and helps us in recruiting great students to Fordham.”

More Dining Options

In the second phase of construction, whose schedule is still being developed, the existing Marketplace dining area will be completely upgraded, reimagined, and redesigned. Chief among the additions being considered are separate food preparation stations where students will be able to see their meals as they are prepared, and an expansion of menu choices to offer a wide variety of student favorites and accommodate special preferences and dietary and nutritional needs. There will also be a new stand-alone retail dining space across from the large lounge, providing food and beverages for those who want to hang out or are on their way to meetings and events.

Renovations will also be made in the second phase to provide bigger and better student club and organization space, additional meeting rooms, and an expansion of the current ballroom to a capacity of 800. There will also be expanded and improved space for the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Student Involvement, as well as student groups that access these offices for support and socializing.

A Bridge Between New and Old

The glass canopy between the gym and the new structure is meant to form a bridge between it and the century-old gym.

“When you’re looking at the building at night, it’s going to be very well illuminated, along with the tower. It creates a void between the new and the old in a way that it doesn’t look like they’re competing,” Gering said.

The campus center is the third major project that HLW has undertaken for Fordham in recent years; the firm designed the renovation of the sixth floor of the Lowenstein Center in 2018 and the $38 million renovation of Hughes Hall in 2013.

HLW has extensive experience designing academic and corporate spaces, said Marco Valera, Fordham’s vice president for administration. He noted the firm’s work on Hofstra University’s Zarb School of Business demonstrated how its design seamlessly connects new structures with old ones.

Valera predicted that the visual effect of the new arcade will be especially pronounced for the space between the existing McGinley Center and the Lombardi Center to the north.

“It’s a very dull space, and with this new design we’ll really invigorate the space between the buildings bringing the whole complex together,” he said. “Activity flows to the gym for games and to Lombardi for events.”

Gering said designers spent a lot of time incorporating details that make Rose Hill distinct. When the second-floor ballroom is renovated, for instance, Gering said the entrance doors and the front will incorporate elements inspired by and similar in character to the north entrance door of Cunniffe House.

“What we’ve done in the design of the campus center is take those details, be they the patterning of the curbing or the stone, or the pocket areas, and bring it inside. There’ll be a sense of, ‘hmmm, this kind of looks familiar,’” he said.

The exterior of the addition, with its ground-to-ceiling stone columns and large glass windows, is likewise a modern interpretation of Rose Hill’s traditional gothic architecture.

Construction Challenges

Valera said construction will be a delicate dance, as it will take place on a site that is still very much in use. The canopy of the arcade, for instance, may need to be constructed partly at night to minimize disruption.

“The issue is, how can we undertake the necessary construction work and still keep the buildings in operation? There will be some impact, there’s no way around it. There will be noise, but the goal will be to minimize that as much as possible,” he said.

Rejuvenate, Revitalize, and Relax

Gering said the goal is to make the center a focus of not only activity but also renewal. Natural light is a key part of wellness, he said, which is why the glass gallery is so important. Stairs and ramps will also be strategically placed within the interior of the space, to encourage students to get in more steps.

“Where there are stairs, there’s usually a function next to it, which will encourage students to use the stairs to get to the function, rather than just slip into an elevator,” he said.

Some of the features meant to lend an aura of calmness, like a green wall that will be cultivated with live ivy and moss on the side of the gym, will be obvious, while others will be subtler. As an example, the glass cladding on both the tower adjacent to the main entrance and the multifunction room on the third floor will be fritted glass, which has a slightly opaque finish that reduces glare.

The building is designed to LEED Silver level and follows the energy efficiency standard known as passive house. This means features such as triple glazed windows (most skyscrapers only have single or double glazing); automatic lighting controls; recycled materials; and in a first for the Rose Hill campus, heat recovery mechanical ventilation wheels, which reuse the building’s heat in cooler months.