Image Credit : Iwan Baan
Project Overview
Cornell Tech is the first campus ever built for the digital age.
The university's focus on innovation is seen in its design, a new type of urban campus that allows room to think, but is also integrated with the city. With expansive views, a series of green, public spaces, and a seamless integration of indoor and outdoor areas, the 12-acre campus is one of the most environmentally friendly and energy-efficient campuses in the world.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Team
Campus Master Plan - Designer: Colin Koop, Associate Director, Skidmore Owings & Merrill
The Bloomberg Centre - Designer: Thom Mayne, Design Director, Morphosis
The Bridge at Cornell Tech - Designer: Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, Co-Founders, Weiss/Manfredi Architecture
The House at Cornell Tech - Designer: Gary E. Handel, President, and Blake Middleton, Partner, Handel Architects
Open Spaces - Designer: James Corner, Principal, Field Operations
Project Brief
The Cornell Tech campus was constructed on a slender island in New York's East River, between the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens. The graduate school, which currently has 300 students, is a partnership between Cornell University, a private university based in Ithaca, New York, and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, a public university in Haifa, Israel.
Aiming to bolster New York's tech industry, Cornell Tech consists of not only students and faculty, but also tech entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Cornell Tech is the first campus ever built for the digital age, bringing together academia and industry to create pioneering leaders and transformational new research, products, companies and social ventures.
Project Innovation/Need
The Cornell Tech campus is divided into three main components designed by three world-leading architecture firms.
The Bloomberg Center designed by Morphosis
Every campus needs a home base, and The Bloomberg Center is Cornell Tech’s hub for learning. Named in honor of Emma and Georgina Bloomberg, it is the intellectual nerve center of the campus, bringing together students and faculty to collaborate across disciplines - but also serving as a venue for chance collisions between academia and the world at large.
The Bridge at Cornell Tech designed by Weiss/Manfredi Architecture
Startup culture is the lifeblood of Cornell Tech, where academia and industry collide. In a first-of-its-kind building, The Bridge houses recent Cornell Tech students hustling to commercialize a new idea, start-ups on the verge of explosive growth, established companies developing leading-edge technologies and products, as well as academic teams conducting groundbreaking research. The Bridge was developed in partnership with Forest City Ratner Companies.
The House at Cornell Tech designed by Handel Architects
As the world’s first residential high-rise built to Passive House standards, The House exemplifies Cornell Tech’s commitment to setting new benchmarks in sustainability and innovation. The on-campus home for students and faculty, The House reinforces the social and intellectual connectivity at the heart of Cornell Tech’s mission. Geared toward students and faculty who want to live on campus in a traditional residential setting, it also allows them to connect to the New York experience.
Design Challenge
The Cornell Tech campus spans 12 acres on Roosevelt Island, including two acres of public open space with spectacular views of Manhattan and Queens, designed by world-renowned landscape design firm James Corner Field Operations. The entire campus design is focused on fostering collaboration and innovation, which is reflected in the landscape. The open space is designed with many areas for students, faculty, staff and visitors to sit, talk and collaborate.
Architecture - Public and Institutional
This award celebrates the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow.
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