New York Daily Photo Analytics

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

ICP

In yesterday's post, I featured the controversial W.R. Grace Building. Equally criticized is the rather stark Grace Plaza at the rear of the building with an entrance at 1114 Avenue of the Americas. It is here, that in 1974, ICP (International School of Photography) expanded their school, creating a minicampus beneath the plaza. The glass pavilion in the photo (designed by the firm Gensler) serves as the school's entrance - it houses a small gallery, stairway (and lift) to the underground facility. The 27,000 square foot space features classrooms, black-and-white and color lab spaces; digital labs with resources for multimedia, digital photography, video editing and production; professional shooting studio, a library, student lounge, and exhibition gallery. ICP serves more than 5,000 students each year, offering 400 courses in a curriculum that ranges from darkroom classes to certificate and master's degree programs. The school has a continuing education program - this is popular for individuals who want to obtain quality instruction in photography without having to matriculate in a full-time university program.
ICP was founded in 1974 by Cornell Capa (brother of acclaimed war photographer Robert Capa) in the historic Willard Straight House on Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile. In 1999, the headquarters building at 1130 Fifth Avenue was sold. They move to 1133 Avenue of the Americas (across from the school) with 17,000 square feet of gallery space (designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects), archives of more than 100,000 photos, a store and cafe. Many feel that the small glass pavilion has done much for the bleak plaza - it certainly provides a much needed focal point ...

7 comments:

Lorelai said...

Wow i can't believe all of that is underground! New York is pretty darn cool.

indieperfumes said...

Good use of the space, I can't believe how large it is -- 27,000 square feet -- and a nice photo of it.
Useful info to have, must be one of the best places to learn anything about photography that exists...

Halcyon said...

I like it. Maybe I'll stop by the next time I'm in NYC. Thanks for sharing!

TeamSplashi said...

We love NYC, such a great place to visit :) and shop.

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Nice! I've been there for some time eating hotdogs along the corner, but I wasn't aware that the space underneath that is really big. I'd love to check it out.

brian stout said...

it looks very cool - clean and crisp... the reflections in the glass are neat too!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Those are not the doorways to hell. Those are the doorways to paradise and that it is a school down there is even more remarkable. I would be proud of this anywhere and leading to anything. The people who came up with this are on the verge of genius.

Abraham Lincoln