Awards and Publications

Awards

• AIA New York Chapter
• AIA New York State
• American Association of Museums
• American Zoo Association
• Art Commission of the City of New York
• Art Council of the City of New York
• Educational Facilities Laboratory
• Fifth Avenue Association
• Industrial Designers Society of America/Business Week
• Municipal Arts Society
• New York Construction News

Selected Publications

AIArchitect, May 2000
Best Practices

Architectural Record, March 2003
Columbia University – Low Memorial Library

BusinessWeek, June 2001
Congo Gorilla Forest

Early American Life, February 2002
Yale University Skinner-Trowbridge House

Engineering News Record, May 1999
Congo Gorilla Forest

Entertainment Design, November 2005
New York City Center

New York Times, March 2005
New York City Center

New York Times, February 2002
Columbia University Low Memorial Library

New York Times, November 2001
Abraham Joshua Heschel High School

New York Times, July 2001
Yale University Davies Mansion

NYU Alumni News Magazine, Fall 1990
New York University Stern School of Business

Planning for Higher Education, Spring 2000
New York University
Yale University
Wesleyan University

Private School Administrator, May 1998
Collegiate School
Dalton School

Real Estate Weekly, January 2002
St. Francis College
Abraham Joshua Heschel High School
Poly Prep Country Day School – Allen Library

University Business, April 2006
St. Francis College Academic Center

April 2006: University Business

“Academic Center at St. Francis College (N.Y.)”

by Melissa Ezarik

This campus is not just located in Brooklyn Heights.  It truly serves the community there, with this new building and others.

w FUNCTION:  Academic center featuring a library, 14 tech-equipped classrooms, a wireless student lounge, a 90-seat theater/lecture hall, seminar rooms, and a high-definition television studio/digital production facility.

w CHALLENGE:  Bordering a brownstone-filled area overlooking Manhattan, St. Francis College can technically build how it wants to, with zoning regulations in mind.  But that’s not the approach this 2,100-plus student school takes.  It has a tradition of opening its five inter-connected buildings for community use.  The historic neighborhood’s preference for preservation over new construction was in conflict with the college’s capital improvement plan needs.  After phase one, which involved adding 10,000 square feet of multipurpose space atop the existing gym, officials had to demolish its library building as part of phase two.  Its façade looked nice, but it couldn’t have supported the weight of the necessary addition, notes Linda Werbel Dashefsky, vice president for Government and Community Relations.

w SOLUTION:  Inviting community input through meetings with community organizations, the neighborhood board, and elected officials helped neighbors envision how the Academic Center would benefit everyone.  During construction, flyers kept them informed of construction noise and traffic interruptions.  And 18 months later, when the center opened, local nonprofits could use even more campus facilities than before-free of charge, as always.  “We’re so popular, we get booked.  Now we can offer multiple venues,” says Werbel Dashefsky.

w PROJECT COST:  $20 million

w COMPLETED:  January 2006

w PROJECT TEAM:  Helpern Architects (N.Y.), Turner Construction Company (N.Y.)  -M.E.

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November 2005: Entertainment Design
“Sitty Pretty ”

by Ellen Lampert-Greaux

High atop the Moorish architecture of City Center, a performing arts venue in midtown Manhattan, sits a rather spectacular dome.  Originally designed by architects Harry P. Knowles and Clinton & Russell, and built in 1922-1924 by the Shriners, the structure is now owned by the City of New York and sadly the condition of the dome deteriorated greatly over the years, some of the tiles had fallen off and the roof was leaking.

Earlier this year, David Paul Helpern, FAIA, and Susanne Mackiw, AIA, of the New York City-based firm, Helpern Architects, in conjunction with David Ward, director of facilities at City Center, and his assistant, Peter Gates, completed a four-year project (from feasibility study to completion) to restore the dome to its original glory and once again make it a proper top hat for the building.

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March 2005: The New York Times
“Fixing a Leaky Roof, and What a Roof!”

by Glenn Collins

The $2.8 million terra-cotta dome of New York City Center caps the 81-year-old performing arts hall that is one of the city’s most colorfully ornate public buildings – thanks to its genesis as the Mecca Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

The dome, which is 104 feet in diameter, is rare in that it was devised as a perfect geometric sphere, although it looks more like an oblate spheroid.  Beyond that, it is “the only graduated clay-tile dome in the Northeast, so it’s unique,” said Bob Anderson, the reconstruction foreman from the general contractor, Nicholson & Galloway. 

Above all, the new dome must not look new…so red, light red and ochre terra-cotta tiles are being installed in a random pattern to give the dome that heirloom quality, conforming to the venerability of the building, which was made a landmark in 1984.

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March 2003: Architectural Record
“ Nondestructive Testing Probes Dome’s Safety: Is one of the world’s largest unreinforced masonry domes safe just because it looks safe?”

“We had no idea what was up there, “ Margaret Castillo, Helpern Architects principal-in-charge, is quoted as saying. The article reports on research into archives of pictures and drawings, probes, and special testing methods from observation by eye to laser surveys. Linn points out that prior to this study, “no one could really say if the dome was safe…it has probably been studied more thoroughly than any unreinforced masonry dome besides that of the Duomo in Florence.” Helpern Architects is providing ongoing remediation.

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February 17, 2002: The New York Times
"The Library That Crowned Columbia's Move North: Low, now used for administration, will undergo an upgrading"

by Christopher Gary

A prominent architectural historian chronicles Columbia University's move uptown and describes President Seth Low's intention to use the library to anchor the new campus and define its modern personality. Completed in 1897, Low Memorial Library today houses the offices of the university president and senior administrators, and is the iconic image of higher education in New York City. Having already spent "more than $170 million on its other McKim Meade & White buildings in the last 15 years," Columbia now will undertake Low's restoration, with Helpern Architects in charge.

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February 2002: Early American Life
"Yale's Skinner-Trowbridge House"

by Gladys Montgomery-Jones

The truly remarkable house at 46 Hillhouse Avenue – now Yale University's International Center for Finance – has been restored to its original splendor. The author gives an account, tailored to the magazine's eclectic constituency, of her trip to the historic house and the lessons learned from Helpern's restoration work, which, she notes, "has something to teach future architects, international business people, and other communities."

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January 30, 2002: Real Estate Weekly, Annual Review & Forecast
"Cultural Institutions will lead the way to a brighter future"

by David P. Helpern, FAIA

A In the wake of the September 11th tragedy, New York educational and cultural institutions have continued to be sources of strength and determination for their communities. One evidence is that – despite changing economic conditions –a number of schools, colleges, and museums are forging ahead with their renovation and new construction plans. St. Francis College, the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, and "Poly Prep" are examples. "They are taking the long view," observes David Helpern, in this column.

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November 18, 2001: The New York Times, Sunday Real Estate
"Heschel School Expanding to West End Avenue and 60th Street: A High School Building for 300"

by Nadine Brozan

The visionary Abraham Joshua Heschel School, responding to requests from parents and the community, is creating a new high school that balances the practical needs of a secondary school education with the spiritual needs of a unique program. This article reports how the school purchased an industrial warehouse west of Lincoln Center that will be converted and expanded by Helpern Architects. Helpern's relationship with Heschel began 5 years ago with renovations and expansion of its landmarked uptown properties.

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July 22, 2001: The New York Times, Sunday Real Estate
"$13.5 Million Renovation and Restoration for 133-Year-Old Building: Yale Mansion to House Globalization Center"

by David W. Dunlap

One of the Times' most astute real estate writers as well as a Yale graduate, David Dunlap took the entire Sunday "Postings" section to tell the at-times unfortunate history of one of New Haven's most remarkable hilltop houses. He also relates Yale's efforts to transform the Davies Mansion into the new Center for the Study of Globalization. The World Fellows Program will be the other occupant. Helpern Architects is responsible for this project, its fourth renovation of an historic home owned by Yale.

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June 2001: Business Week
"Exploring the Congo and the Cosmos"

A recipient of a 2001 Silver IDEA Award from the magazine and the Industrial Designers Society of America, Congo Gorilla Forest puts people in the center of a gorilla habitat at eye level, "breaking down barriers between the viewer and the viewed." The design by Helpern Architects brings humans and gorillas together safely, separated by full-height panoramic windows just 1 1/2 inches thick.

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by D.Helpern

Helpern Architects has succeeded in establishing long-term, creative relationships with many of its clients. The first step in this good relationship is the well-conceived, well-executed kick-off meeting. Whether the project takes seven months or seven years, getting started on the right foot with the client is key.

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by D.Helpern, M.Castillo, and S. Engblom

Rather than simply removing old, often historic houses on or near campus to make room for a new building, more and more universities are restoring these structures and modifying them for current uses. A number of unique issues often arise when an institution chooses to adapt an older home for specific educational needs. Case studies show how Helpern Architects has guided New York, Yale, and Wesleyan universities around these potential obstacles to success.

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Helpern Architects designed Congo Gorilla Forest at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo in The Bronx, N.Y.—a "living museum" that simultaneously teaches and promotes preservation efforts in the African rain forest. This article examines the many innovative concepts and techniques used to bring visitors into the gorillas’ world, from the main building’s "stealth architecture" to glass that can resist a large, charging gorilla.

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Schools may be closed for students during the summer, but they are open for anyone involved in new construction done during the hottest season to avoid scheduling conflicts. The fast-track nature of summertime work presents endless challenges, opportunities, and pitfalls to both experts and novices. David Paul Helpern relates his firm’s roles with New York City’s Collegiate and Dalton schools, among others, in getting the greatest success during this short time frame.

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Designed by Helpern Architects, New York University’s 12-story building for the Leonard N. Stern School of Business represents "the single most important element of Stern’s bold plan to join the top tier of the world’s business schools." The Management Education Center, which broke ground in 1990 and was completed in 1992, consolidates the Stern School’s graduate and undergraduate students and faculty into one building on NYU’s Washington Square campus.

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