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RUBENSTEIN COMMONS, INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY

Princeton, NJ, United States. 2020

Description +

PROGRAM: meeting rooms, an indoor/outdoor café, living room, gallery of campus historyand several offices.

CLIENT: Institute for Advanced Study

SIZE: 17,175 sf

STATUS: Construction

First place in Competition, 2016

The Rubenstein Commons at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, established in 1930, is a new commons building on the historic campus. It is sited near its original 1939 building, Fuld Hall, where Albert Einstein spent his last thinking years.

The building forms an intertwining through the landscape, connecting with pools of water on the North, South, East and West. The pools (which also contain underwater photovoltaics) reflect sunlight into interior spaces producing an atmosphere of reflection. Natural phenomena are intertwined with science, physics, humanities, and art –corresponding with the Institute’s mission. Prismatic glass above 7’ breaks white light into the color spectrum, energizing the interior with natural phenomena.

The landscape around the pools measures the time of a year’s passing through the four seasons. Near the East pool spring is marked via pink blooming magnolias. Summer is marked along the South pools with birch trees. Autumn is marked with golden leaves of Ginkgo trees on the West and at the moss gardens around the North pools are pine trees for Winter.

The geometry of the spaces is formed by “space curves” where two non-planar curves intersect. The director of the IAS., remarked that the curved ceilings give space for “thought bubbles” of the scholars.

The Rubenstein Commons will support community and academic life on the IAS campus, promoting communication and collaboration through a variety of social and meeting spaces. Providing a communal and flexible gathering place for the Institute’s research community, the building will offer a space for the display of images and materials that tell the story of the Institute’s heritage, extraordinary scholarly community, as well as current and future efforts.

Ecological Innovation +

Expected Certified LEED Gold

– Geothermal heating & cooling
– Natural light galleries
– Transparent glass cavity wall
– Active slab conditioning with displacement air humidity control
– Green roofs
– Rainwater harvesting

Videos +

  • Space Curve Light Fixture

Credits +

  • architect

    - Steven Holl Architects

    Steven Holl (design architect, principal)

    Noah Yaffe (partner in charge)

    Christina Yessios (project architect, associate)

    Yun Shi (assistant project architect)

    Michael Haddy (detail designer)

    Marcus Carter, Alessandra Catherine Calaguire, Magdalena Naydekova (project team)

    Xi Chen, Carolina Cohen Freue, Elise Riley (competition team)

News +


  • 2022 02/28 “Lessons from the Social Condensers” by Anna Bokov
  • 2020 07/24 Space Curve Light Fixture for Institute for Advanced Study
  • 2018 03/14 Institute for Advanced Study Hosts Groundbreaking Ceremony for New Campus Building, Rubenstein Commons
  • 2016 03/18 Steven Holl’s Design Chosen for Institute for Advanced Study
  • 2016 03/18 Steven Holl Architects Wins Invited Competition for Rubenstein Commons at Institute for Advanced Study
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