Cornell shortlists six architectural firms for first building on tech campus

Cornell University announced a shortlist of six renowned architectural firms for the planned CornellNYC Tech campus’s core academic building on Roosevelt Island.

The six finalists were short-listed from a leading field of 43 international and national firms that were selected for their consistently exceptional portfolios of work relevant to the planned new building.

The finalists are:

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture)
Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Morphosis Architects
Steven Holl Architects
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Each of the firms will be asked to assemble a team of consultants and prepare for an interview to discuss their team’s capabilities to successfully design the university’s project. Cornell is planning to select and contract with one of the firms by this April.

In preparation for the design phase, Cornell is working with the SOM team that developed the successful tech campus proposal, to define an overall campus plan that will serve as the framework for all future new buildings and public spaces.

The planned new building will set the standard for the future development of the site.

Cornell’s plan is to make this first building “net zero,” meaning that the amount of energy its occupants use in one-year equals the amount produced on the island. Beyond the first core academic building, future projects for the campus include residences for faculty, staff and graduate students and corporate space that will be designed to achieve LEED Silver or higher certification.

The CornellNYC Tech campus, which will house the Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute, will be a new type of academic enterprise, with a focus on the intersection between academia and the private sector, that will fulfill New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s vision of transforming the city into a world hub of innovation and technology commercialization. BD+C

It’s no accident that the word “Highline” is in this project’s name. The goal is for the building to be a kind of gateway into the larger redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood to resemble New York’s City’s trendy downtown Meatpacking District, through which runs a portion the High Line elevated park.

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