Projects
Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex
(Former AJHS Building)
Renovation and Addition
see project images
At the July 18, 2002 meeting of the Brandeis University Board of Trustees' Executive Committee, the Trustees approved, and the University subsequently executed, purchase of the American Jewish Historical Society Building. Major gifts/pledges from the Abraham Shapiro Charity Fund--with special thanks to trustee Robert Shapiro '52 and alumna Valya Shapiro '61--and from Mort Mandel made possible the renovation of the former AJHS building as an important addition to academic space at the University.The University engaged the architectural firm of Miller Dyer Spears to carry out programming and design for this project. Slotnick, Inc., provided contracting services for the project. Total project cost was $5.1M.
The building houses the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life, the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, the International Investigative Journalism Program, faculty offices, the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, and the Education Program. The Complex also provides a fully multimedia-equipped distance-learning classroom, two seminar rooms, conference room and meeting space, and a graduate-student study area. The building is named the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex with the first floor designated as the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education.
An addition to the building now provides, for the first time, handicapped access to the entire building. The Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex adds a total of approximately 17,500 gross square feet of first-quality academic space for the University. Occupancy took place in the last week of September 2004.
Updated June 23, 2005