Patricia Poon's View of 41 Cooper Square

During the 2014 Open House New York event Patricia Poon took a tour of 41 Cooper Square and sent us photos of her visit. They make the interior look like something from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. We thought they were pretty spectacular.  It turns out Ms. Poon is a professional architectural photographer originally from Hong Kong who now lives in New York. We asked her about the pictures, including all the wonkly details on how she made them.

"I was impressed by the light and airy feeling of the interior, and how it provides novel spaces that can accommodate impromptu creative exchanges between the students," she wrote in an email. "These images were taken with a Fuji X-E1 (a micro 4/3 camera) with a 10­24mm lens. The photos were desaturated in post using Adobe Lightroom, but I deliberately overexposed for 1.5 stops (sometimes 2 stops) when I created the shots in camera. That's why they look super bright. Depending on the colours and white balance of the photo, I also adjust the black and white colour panels (which are like applying colour filters to black and white film). This brings out the minimalistic feel of the space."

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.