(Cover photo credit: Karolina Grabowska)

The lengthy process began in early 2021 when the facilities team started its search for potential removal companies. With the rental contract on the present Academic Building ending in late August 2022, the big move is only months away. But how do you move an entire university campus that has fostered community and learning for the past decade?

In fact, this is not the only “big move” in NYU Shanghai’s history. The first was the relocation from East China Normal University’s campus to the Century Avenue Academic Building in 2014. While the Facilities Department has taken the lead on planning the 2022 move, the large scope of this project requires nearly all departments’ involvement to run smoothly.

David Pe, Dean of Students at NYU Shanghai, is an administrative team member who has had deep involvement in the actual planning of the new campus and has a thorough understanding of how the moving process will go. Having experienced the 2014 move to Century Avenue, Pe is confident “that we will have a smooth transition,” and is actually “looking forward to the packing and archiving” that is soon to be necessary for all departments and staff.

Great strides of progress on construction of the new campus were announced in an October 2021 publication on the university’s official website. Project renderings courtesy of the campus architects, Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), give readers an idea of what the new campus will look like upon completion. In spaces such as the Career Development Center, the design concept aims to follow a style similar to the existing space at the Century Avenue Academic Building, featuring a brick wall and colorful furnishings.

Rendering of the new Career Development Center, featuring a similar design concept to the current location (Image courtesy of Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) via shanghai.nyu.edu).

In order to preserve the iconic style of NYU Shanghai’s academic spaces and to practice sustainability, the goal is to utilize as much of the existing furniture from the Century Avenue campus as possible, and as such, a major task within the moving process is furniture relocation and allocation. Besides the fixed furniture seen in lecture halls and the auditorium, all other furniture items will likely make the journey from Century Avenue to the new campus in Qiantan.

According to Pe, the new campus will primarily make use of the existing furniture, except for new furniture custom-fitted for the “600 seat auditorium or dance and music performance spaces.” Students, faculty, and staff can look forward to carefully designed public spaces that hope to foster a community of co-working. Pe hopes that with this design concept, members of the NYU Shanghai community can find new “opportunities to engage outside the traditional classroom setting.”

A rendering of the 600-person auditorium fitted with new custom furniture (Image courtesy of KPF via shanghai.nyu.edu).

He emphasizes the importance of being intentional in meeting the needs of the community through the furnishing of the new campus. Pe later added that once the new campus is open to the NYU Shanghai community, “there will be room for students, faculty, and staff to give input” that will allow for a more welcoming and diverse campus environment.

To efficiently allocate furniture, a great amount of communication must take place between the Facilities Department and all other departments to ensure that the distribution of old and new furniture will meet the needs of each department. This task requires precise calculations and, in the eyes of the Facilities Department, is one of the most complicated aspects of the entire moving process.

According to the Facilities team, consistency is key. This means that in addition to relocating all of the large furniture items, the Facilities Department must also establish a standard system of providing moving materials to each department, including selecting the packaging materials, arranging a proper distribution cycle, and determining the quota of moving boxes allocated to each department.

While moving an entire university campus is certainly a great feat, the plans to relocate NYU Shanghai are operating under an additional layer of difficulty: moving during the pandemic. As COVID-19 cases are resurging in Shanghai within the past few weeks, the Facilities Department is now considering the real possibility of postponing the original plan to conduct the bulk of relocation during June and July.

While many students and staff will bid their farewell to Century Avenue at the end of the spring semester in May, many students considering continuing their studies through the summer wonder where courses will be held. Because the rental contract with Lujiazui Group terminates at the end of August, Pe ensures that Summer Session I, ending on July 1, will remain fully in person at the Century Avenue Academic Building. However, as Summer Session II spans July and into early August, courses will be offered online to allow the items in the Academic Building to be relocated to the new campus. With this schedule, students and staff can expect to maintain campus access throughout Summer Session I, but access during the second half of the summer will depend on the perceived safety of the Academic Building at that time.

The plans for the big move to the new campus continue to develop each day. The Facilities Department is busy meeting with relevant departments and the Lujiazui Property Management Team to ensure a smooth transition from Century Avenue, and the following months will be critical in turning these plans into reality.