NYAB Venue - The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design

The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design

University or School in The Villages area

The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center is a new campus center for Parsons The New School for Design that combines learning and public program spaces with exhibition galleries to provide a dynamic presence for the university at the highly trafficked intersection of Fifth Avenue and 13th Street in Greenwich Village, and an important new downtown destination for art and design programming.

The center was made possible in part by a $7 million gift from New School Trustee and Parsons Board of Governors Chair Sheila C. Johnson. With an award-winning design by Lyn Rice Architects, whose principal Lyn Rice was part of the team behind Dia:Beacon, the center combines the ground level of four historic buildings to form an innovative, contemporary “urban quad.”

The Center features the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery and Auditorium, and the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries. These spaces will present exhibitions and public programs exploring key issues within contemporary culture through the work of architects, artists and designers. The Center also provides a new home for the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Archives, a significant collection of drawings, photographs, letters, and objects documenting 20th-century design. In addition, several learning and meeting spaces are incorporated into the design, including an innovative student critique area located in the highly visible intersection of Fifth Avenue and 13th Street, which will enable the public to observe the design dialogue that is central to a Parsons education.