Building Exteriors and Historic Preservation

Columbia is also working on an exteriors and historic preservation project (EHP), which was implemented to improve Columbia’s sense of place on campus and in the Morningside Heights neighborhood, by repairing and restoring its building fabric. EHP restoration often involves the replacement of damaged and missing building elements, and the cleaning of building facades, effectively ‘recycling’ existing buildings, rather than demolishing old ones and building new ones. In this way, EHP helps the University to reduce its carbon footprint and its embodied energy, or the quantity of energy required to manufacture a product, material or service, or to supply it to the point of use.