State University of New York at Purchase - Campus

Campus

The site chosen for the campus was a 500 acre (2 km²) estate, Strathglass Farm, in the middle of Westchester County, 40 minutes from Manhattan by car and about an hour by public transportation. It was originally the property of Thomas Thomas, an American Revolutionary war soldier, whose family and slave cemetery remains on the campus between the south ends of the Humanities and Visual Arts buildings. To transform the former farm into a college for thousands of students, SUNY engaged some of the most prominent American architects to design the campus (Paul Rudolph, Charles Gwathmey, Phillip Johnson, John Burgee, and Robert Venturi). Edward Larrabee Barnes created the master plan, and nine distinguished architectural firms designed specific buildings. Buildings on the campus are located in the center of the property, and are isolated from the surrounding community by wooded areas around the perimeter of the property. The college is adjacent to the Westchester County Airport, and is across the street from PepsiCo's world headquarters. The campus is not within walking distance to any commercial area, but maintains an hourly shuttle bus system to and from White Plains, New York.

The buildings and open spaces of the campus are visually distinctive models of late modernist architecture. The Visual Arts Building has 160,000 square feet (15,000 m2) of studios, exhibition spaces, workshops and labs. The Dance Building was the first in America created specifically for the training of dancers. The Music Building has two recital halls, 75 practice rooms, 80 Steinway & Sons pianos, and professional recording studios. The Studio Composition program was one of the first in the country, and the faculty and student showcase Purchase Records has earned three Grammy nominations for its five releases. The Film Conservatory is housed within the lower level of the Music Building.

Various parts of the Campus are currently undergoing renovation. The new Student Services building opened in 2006, providing one-stop-shopping for most administrative services. The "mall", or main campus plaza, is currently undergoing renovations to improve its aesthetics, create communal spaces, and to reduce flooding when it rains.