ABSTRACT
The institute ...........................................................................................................94 The neighborhood.................................................................................................95 The dilemma..........................................................................................................97 The strategy emerges ...........................................................................................98 Plusses and minuses.............................................................................................99 The design role....................................................................................................100 The site and program.........................................................................................100 The presentations................................................................................................102 A positive response ............................................................................................103 Epilogue................................................................................................................104
In the late 1980s, the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), a public institution dedicated to psychiatric research, considered their need to renovate and expand their existing 60-year old building in upper Manhattan. After several years of study, it became apparent that expansion in place was impossible, and that renovation could not be accomplished while keeping the institution up and running. The institute looked for reasonable sites in the neighborhood, considering any feasible method of expansion — renovation, new construction, or even total relocation — without success.
