Printer-friendly versionInstitute Grounds
The Institute for Advanced Study is located approximately one mile from downtown Princeton, New Jersey.
The Institute grounds include the Institute Woods, a 589-acre permanently conserved nature reserve that forms a key link in a network of green spaces in central New Jersey. Stony Brook flows through the Woods and is bordered by a broad flood plain which has abundant beds of spring wildflowers such as yellow trout lilies, pink and white spring beauties and purple violets. The aspen, gray birch, beech, oak, hickory, dogwood, sweet gum and red maple trees provide habitat for summer breeding and spring and fall migrating bird species. The Woods is also an important stop-over point for migrating songbirds, particularly warblers. The trails connect to the adjacent Princeton Battlefield State Park and the Charles H. Rogers Wildlife Refuge.
The Institute Woods is open to the public and can be enjoyed year-round by bird watchers, walkers, runners, and cross-country skiers.
To preserve the tranquil environment necessary for the work of the Institute, all School and administrative buildings are not open to the public. The Institute Dining Hall is open only to Faculty, Members, staff, Friends of the Institute for Advanced Study, and their guests.
Visitors to the Institute Woods should park in the public parking area at Battlefield Park. The entrance to this parking area is on Mercer Street, 1/2 mile south of the Mercer Street/Olden Lane intersection. We ask that you do not disturb or remove vegetation, and you are urged to take precautions against Lyme disease, which is common in the mid-Atlantic region. Overnight camping is not permitted, nor are motorized vehicles of any kind. An online map of the Institute Woods is available here.
Institute concerts, lectures, seminars and other activities that are open to the public are listed in our Calendar of Events and are publicized in local newspapers. Click here for directions to the Institute. To view a map of the Institute campus, please click here.
Campus Projects
Faculty Housing - One of the unique aspects of the Institute for Advanced Study is its existence as a strongly residential community of scholars, where Faculty and the Members who visit each year live on or very close to campus. In order to sustain this defining characteristic, the Institute plans to build 15 houses on a site of 8 acres of private land owned by the Institute.
Bloomberg Hall Extension - The new extension to Bloomberg Hall, built at the east end of the existing building, houses The Simons Center for Systems Biology, and unites all the components of the School of Natural Sciences in one building.
Fuld Hall Courtyard Renovation - An initiative to provide new landscaping to the courtyard entrance of Fuld Hall has been generously supported by the Leon Levy Foundation and guided by Institute Trustee Shelby White. Noted landscape architect Patrick Chassé has reconfigured the Fuld courtyard to evoke a Georgian-style ornamental garden, adding symmetrical ramps that now frame the main steps in a welcoming and elegant design.