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Centro Tecnológico San Joaquín
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Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center
Architects comfortably fit 200,000 square feet of research space into an already-crowded campus.
The Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center is a product of NYU’s strategic plan to recruit 50 new principal investigators to work in programs covering a broad range of biomedical research. In addition to laboratory space for these researchers, the program called for a conference center, a faculty commons area with cafe and a 10,000-cage rodent vivarium. The building is connected to and entered via the adjacent 6-story Medical Sciences Building, NYU’s original research facility.
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An initial feasibility study considered four approaches to meeting the need for 200,000 square feet of new research space, including two off-campus sites. According to the architects, Mitchell | Giurgola, the campus site was selected because it provided the greatest opportunity for collaboration and sharing of facilities. That site presented many challenges: Several zoning waivers were required; the foundation system would be complex due to the close proximity of the East River; and principal access would be through existing buildings which required associated renovations and an egress easement. The site is immediately adjacent to the FDR Drive, until now the “back” side of campus. The building provided the opportunity to present a new campus image to the east. Even the loading dock was designed to be highly visible.
In order to maximize the potential of the small footprint an “open plan” laboratory concept was developed. Circulation within the labs is via a “ghost corridor” between lab benches adjacent to the exterior window wall and the central lab support zone, the design of which varies depending on the needs of the researchers on the floor.
The vivarium, located 30 feet below the surface of the nearby East River, required a foundation system of drilled “secant piles” at the perimeter, a 4-foot thick “matt slab”, 1,000 driven steel piles, and state-of-the-art waterproofing technologies. Above this, the Alumni Plaza is paved in terrazzo, landscaped to provide year-round greenery and unifies the Faculty Commons in the Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center with public spaces at the ground floor of the adjacent buildings.
Formal name of project: Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center
Location: New York, New York
Gross square footage: 235,000 sq.ft.
Completion Date: May 2006
Total construction cost: $140,000,000
Owner: New York University School of Medicine
Architect:
Mitchell | Giurgola Architects, LLP
170 West 97th Street
New York, NY 10025
Tel: 212.663.4000
Fax: 212.866.5006
Web: www.mitchellgiurgola.com
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