The Morton and Angela Topfer Library Café: Expansion and Renovation Project

The Library Café Expansion and Renovation Project was completed early in the Fall Semester 2005.

The sleek electronic study Cafe opened in January 1999 and was initially funded with a $1.6 million capital grant from the Brooklyn delegation of the New York City Council. A few months later, former vice-chairman of Dell Computer Corporation Morton Topfer and his late wife, Angela, donated $1 million to help support and maintain the facility.

At the request of President Christoph Kimmich the Brooklyn City Council agreed to fund an expansion of the Cafe into a part of the plaza fronting the facility. Following an intensive competition, Architects Thanhauser Esterson Kapell (TEK) were awarded the project. A model of the extension can be viewed on their Website at http://www.te-arch.com/brooklyn.html.

The six thousand square-foot computing facility, which currently houses fifty high-speed computers, has been expanded to make room for an additional thirty computers, a small pavilion, and a bar along a curved glass wall, with portals for laptop computers. There is a new coffee counter and the outdoor concrete tables have been relocated.

Click here for more on the Café.

Renovated Library Café, Exterior 2005

Renovated Library Café, Interior 2005