Project Description
An 11-acre site on Roosevelt Island, in New York’s East River, will soon host a 2 million-square-foot applied-science and engineering campus for up to 2,500 students. A joint venture between Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, the scheme was designed by New York–based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to holistically integrate landscape and architecture. Composed of 10 buildings, the campus is organized around three learning hubs, includes a 150,000-square-foot photovoltaic array, and proposes more than 500,000 square feet of public gardens, some of which are integrated into the open-plan structures. “It’s pretty unique in New York,” says design partner Roger Duffy, FAIA. Phase one, to be completed in 2017, comprises 300,000 square feet of housing and 300,000 square feet of research and development space, including a 150,000-square-foot, net-zero academic building. “It’s taking goals that campuses have set for 20 to 30 years from now and trying to achieve it in 2017,” says senior designer Colin Koop, AIA.