The Forum requires a radical change in its function and physical manifestations to connect Columbia University to the surrounding community as intended. The Forum is Columbia’s most visible addition to their Manhattanville Campus, prominently located at the corner of 125th and Broadway. Once home to family businesses, the site was seized by eminent domain to be repurposed as the University’s “gateway to the community.” The Forum’s architecture contradicts this mission through elements like swipe access devices, exterior cameras, limited public access, and expansive neighborhood-facing concrete facades. I propose drastically altering the structure by deconstructing the physical building and repurposing those parts to form a material library. The program must function like a traditional library—without exchange of money and with materials in place of books—to forge a reciprocal relationship to the community. The inventory’s circulation and storage is primarily housed on mobile tracks that can carry the largest items, the deconstructed curtain wall panels. Smaller items are stored throughout the open floor plan where patrons are encouraged to browse the collection. This radical change in form and function transforms the building into a community space and resource hub, as it was intended.
