The rockefeller university

Be our guest. Science Outreach Director Jeanne Garbarino gives a tour of the Rockefeller campus for Open House New York, an annual event that showcases notable architecture and culturally-significant spaces throughout the five boroughs.

by LESLIE CHURCH

For those without access, the Rockefeller campus can seem shrouded in mystery. But on a rainy weekend this October, the university opened its doors and let the city in as part of Open House New York weekend. The annual event showcases hundreds of the city’s most architecturally and culturally significant spaces, many not usually open to the public.

At Rockefeller, members of the Communications and Public Affairs staff, along with Science Outreach Director Jeanne Garbarino, led hour-long tours of campus highlights, including the Collaborative Research Center, Caspary Auditorium and the university hospital, and discussed how the university’s buildings and architecture are a means of facilitating scientific discovery. The university’s participation was seen as a low-cost way to engage with interested members of the community to increase awareness of Rockefeller locally and help promote bioscience in the city.

In all, 72 visitors, most with no prior knowledge about the university, attended the tours — 47 were from Manhattan, 17 from the outer boroughs and suburbs and eight from out of state.

Now in its tenth year, Open House New York was founded by architect Scott Lauer as a small grassroots nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about New York City’s architecture and design.

The event has grown from its first weekend with 84 sites to more than 250 this year. It attracted 200,000 visitors citywide.