In 1956, New York University hired Marcel Breuer and Associates to design a series of buildings for the School of Engineering and Science on its Bronx campus. The site overlooked the Harlem River and featured existing neo-classical buildings by Stanford White. The Residence Hall was built during the same years as Begrisch Hall, the laboratory building known as Technology I, and the student center. Breuer and his associate Robert Gatje designed the Residence Hall as a slightly v-shaped 7-storey building that connected to the student center through two covered bridges accessed from the fourth floor. The first floor was given over to storage, locker rooms and mechanical equipment. Men’s and women’s quarters occupied separate arms of the building on the remaining six floors.