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In the Region | Westchester Published: March 25, 2007

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STONE FACED The designs of the new wellness center and the castle, below, now an administrative building at the College of New Rochelle, are very different, though both use granite quarried near Lake Champlain.

Fitting in on Campus

By ELSA BRENNER

SINCE 1904, when a group of Ursuline nuns moved into a fortresslike mansion on the south side of this city to begin New York state’s first Catholic college for women, all of the campus’s buildings have been clad in granite.

Like the other structures on the 20-acre campus of the College of New Rochelle, the newest building — a 55,000-square-foot $28 million health and recreation center scheduled to be completed later this year — is being faced with granite from an area near Lake Champlain on the New York-Vermont border.

But unlike most of the older structures here, which are neo-Gothic collegiate in style, the latest addition has a distinctly modernistic flavor, featuring a two-story glass lobby and architectural concrete forming a wall along a garden.

And it is described as environmentally sound, in keeping with current national standards for green buildings. The building has six skylights rising up through a rooftop garden over a competition-length pool and tournament-sized gymnasium, with bleachers to seat 1,000 spectators; they admit natural light and reduce heating costs.

Recycled glass has been mixed into the concrete used for the pool, consuming less concrete and taking advantage of glass that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

The building also has a heat recovery system to recycle energy, so that warm air, instead of being discharged from the building, is run through a system of pipes to warm the water in the pool.

But in keeping with the past and with the spiritual underpinnings of the college, which began with 12 students and now has an enrollment of 6,500, the wellness center is designed to be a place for mental and spiritual as well as physical growth.

In addition to two classrooms, a seminar room and workout areas, the new building has a 600-square-foot mediation room that can also be used for yoga and Pilates, and the roof garden has an outdoor chapel overlooking what is said to be one of the largest copper beech trees in the region.

“The architecture is prompted by a belief that it takes more than just sweat to promote total wellness,” said Joseph G. Tattoni, a design principal for Ikon.5 Architects of Princeton, N.J., the firm in charge of the project. “This is a Catholic institution, and there’s the issue of the soul.”

Mr. Tattoni described the new two-story center as “a paradisiacal kind of place.” He said: “Years ago, it would have been just a recreation center. Today, we’re calling buildings like this holistic wellness centers.”

Recently, Ikon.5 Architects designed a $10 million 15,000-square-foot student center at the State University of New York in New Paltz and a $6 million 22,000-square-foot public library in New Castle, Del. Both also use green technology.

At the College of New Rochelle, the pool was placed underground to reduce the profile of the new structure in the surrounding neighborhood, which consists of mostly two-story single-family homes and some midrise apartment complexes.

The roof garden over the pool wing, at grade level, will consist of five feet of high-drainage topsoil augmented with slag and shale to reduce runoff, Mr. Tattoni said. Because the site of the pool and its garden overhead was formerly a parking lot, the new construction will add more permeable surfaces to the campus, he explained.

...the granite on all of the buildings is of the same stock used for the college’s initial home, Leland Castle, which has a soaring turret and crenelated roof line. It was acquired for $35,000 at the turn of the 20th century.

The 8,000-square-foot former residence, which has been designated a National Historical Site, is these days used for the college’s administrative offices and as an art gallery. It was designed by the New York architect William Thomas Beers during the late 1850s for Simeon Leland, a hotel entrepreneur who used it initially as a summer home and then year round until 1880. Before being acquired from a subsequent owner, the building had been used as a hotel, a boarding school and a hunting club.

Now a cluster of 20 classroom buildings, the main campus serves as the home base for the college. There are five other locations: Co-op City in the Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, downtown Manhattan, Harlem and the South Bronx.

The college consists of the all-women’s School of Arts and Sciences, and three coeducational schools: the School of New Resources (for students 21 and over); the School of Nursing; and the Graduate School, which offers degrees in several programs, including communications.

Only 10 percent of the students are in their teens and 20s; 90 percent are adults returning to school, said Stephen J. Sweeny, the president.

As for the stone facades on all the main campus buildings, Dr. Sweeny conceded that granite... is not the most economical way to go.

During the Depression, when the College of New Rochelle’s library was built, architects used more mortar and less stone because of economic constraints. In retrospect, that may have been shortsighted, since the joints on that building have since been resealed to correct water damage.

The costs for the newest building are being covered by a larger capital campaign begun in 2003. Of the $28 million, $4.3 million is a state grant for capital projects at private and public colleges and universities, and $1 million comes from a federal grant. Corporations and foundations have pledged $350,000, said Judy Huntington, the chief financial officer for the college. The remainder is private donations.

Dorothy Larkin, an associate professor and the coordinator of the college’s master’s program in nursing, said the Wellness Center would become a hub where students would learn about disease prevention and stress management. “A healthy campus is the function of the curriculum,” she said.

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The first Catholic college for women in New York State, The College of New Rochelle was founded in 1904 by the Ursuline Order. Today, it comprises the all-women School of Arts & Sciences, and three schools which admit women and men: the School of New Resources (for adult learners), the School of Nursing and the Graduate School.  The main campus of the College is located in lower Westchester County, 16 miles north of New York City.  The College maintains six other campus locations in New York City. Visit the College’s website at www.cnr.edu