Business School News
$100 million for Columbia Business School
“You need to have the best faculty, the best curriculum, the best students and the best facilities. One leg has been missing, and this will round out this great school.” Henry Kravis, Co-founder of the private-equity firm KKR & Co. and co-chair of the Board of Overseas donated $100 million to his alma mater, the Columbia Business School. He believes that this country needs to be able to provide students with the best resources and facilities in order to push the economy upwards and to develop and train new entrepreneurs. For that matter the donation that is going towards constructing a new business school site is said to not only be seen as an investment in a building but as an investment in the future of this country.
“We’re not just constructing a building, we’re building a community of entrepreneurs,” Kravis said in an interview. “If we don’t get our education system right, we’re going to be going backwards. I want to make sure this campus gets built. I think it will be phenomenal.”
The Columbia Business School, which is currently ranked 6th in the world for Business Schools, is thankful for Kravis’ generosity, which is the largest one in its history. Students as well as faculty have said that the old business school restricts creativity and performance, as it requires students to share crammed, windowless cubicles with business students and students from the law school. On the other hand the new Business School building that will be named Kravis and expected to be finished in six years is going to be exclusively for business students.
Kravis as well as Dean Glenn Hubbard are convinced that this project will provide the filler for the ‘one leg that is missing’ to allow students and faculty to work with local entrepreneurs in West Harlem as well as to facilitate more open communication among students and New York’s broader business community.
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Using Art to Promote Properties
Since Picasso was used as a feature for commercial buildings, art has been a vital part in creating a contemporary and distinguishing image. Edward Larabee Barnes, an architect with a modernist style designed the Madison Ave tower in New York, which looks like three distinct pieces put together. A triangular chunk is at the base of the tower and creates a courtyard overlooking the streets from eight stories above ground level. Even though the building can be classified as different and unique it is aging making the building less attractive which lead to fears of the Park Tower Group that occupancy rates might decline. To prevent this from happening they hired a new architect to update 535 Madison, including the lobby and courtyard. Just as Barnes, this architect used creativity and art as a solution.
Madison Ave tower now does not only have a modernized inside but it is also surrounded by a sculpture garden which shows rotating exhibits all year around. According to Alfred Bradshaw, the executive vice president of Park Tower Group, it is a "popular amenity for our building tenants, tourists, art enthusiasts and passersby who stop to appreciate the space and the unique feature of the rotating artwork." Art seems to have a certain effect on people that creates a larger appreciation for buildings and properties, which otherwise could simply be considered as another skyscraper.
This concept is not only used by architects who understand what inspires and appeals to people, but also by executives in the real estate industry. "People want to feel they own something that has a personality and a story," said Michael Shvo in an interview with Fast Company Magazine. Michael Shvo, CEO of the real-estate company SHVO uses art and fashion to create images for properties that people can identify with and that set one building apart from the other.
