Manhattanville College is an undergraduate school serving approximately 1,700 students on a 90-acre campus.  The original campus, constructed in the early 1950s on the Whitlaw Reid Estate, was planned as one grandiose, elongated quadrangle.  It focused on Reid Castle, the central landmark building, designed by McKim, Mead & White in the 19th century. 

The Berman Student Center is a new 33,000 sf interdisciplinary building located to the east of Reid Castle.  It was deliberately placed at the edge of the main parking lot between an existing dormitory and a dining hall to serve as the campus' east gateway.  The building forms the edge of a new, smaller-scale quadrangle facing uphill toward Reid Castle.  Because the new quadrangle is one full level above the parking lot entry to the Center, the building actually functions as a retaining wall.  A ceremonial stair from the lower level of the Center emerges in a glass cube, rotated to align with the axis of Reid Castle.

The new Student Center houses spaces for wellness and the arts.  It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  All of the main spaces are configured to be open and transparent, and to face out to the new quadrangle.  The building achieved LEED Gold certification; it is sustainable and energy efficient.  A significant portion of its electricity is generated by roof-mounted photovoltaic panels.