Brooklyn College Graduate School of Cinema

Brooklyn, NY

Photo © Chris Cooper

Universities

Architects: Dattner Architects

Location: Brooklyn, NY
Year: 2015
Client: Steiner NYC, City University of New York, Brooklyn College

The Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema is the result of a public-private partnership between two long-standing clients of Dattner Architects: the City University of New York and Steiner NYC. The first public graduate film school, Feirstein is part of Brooklyn College, and their first program division is hosted off-campus.

Designed to embrace the culture of a contemporary movie lot and university campus, the school’s facilities include everything necessary for sophisticated digital film production – from concept to finished product. Allowing students the opportunity to create in an unparalleled, professional setting that includes a sound stage, production labs, motion capture studio, editing suites, recording studios, and a screening room complete with a mixing area.

The vision for this school was designed around a brand new academic program. Rather than a theory-based education which focuses on “the whole film-maker,” the school wished to create a hands-on program that gave students the skills to enter specific fields: editor, cinematographer, screenwriter, director, or producer. This holistic approach to film-making was a primary driver of the design, which emphasizes cross disciplinary collaboration by exposing each discipline to the work of the others.