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Centro Tecnológico San Joaquín
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Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center Bard College, The Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation
A curving structure provides a prominent new home for several science departments.
The initial phase of The Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation, a 49,000-square-foot structure, provides space for the biology, computer science, and mathematics departments in a facility equipped with state-of-the-art teaching and research laboratories, high-tech classrooms, and a 60-person auditorium.
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Conceived by Rafael Viñoly Architects specifically for its prominent, central campus location, the center is a gently curving metal-clad structure set low to the ground in a clearing. Cantilevered over the axis generated by the campus walk, the building creates a visual connection with the heart of the college grounds yet allows the path to continue.
The center’s design incorporates glass exterior walls, a large atrium, and an open floor plan featuring flexible, multidisciplinary spaces for teaching, research, and discussion. The architects organized the building around a central spine that contains vertical circulation, support spaces, and MEP distribution services, negotiating between the teaching and research laboratories to the west and public spaces to the east. Vestibules pass through the spine from the lobby to access the laboratories – large and open interactive spaces shared by students and faculty. Designed for easy reconfiguration to accommodate new initiatives, the laboratories are equipped with moveable benches and a customized bollard system that provide flexible distribution of the infrastructure utilities necessary for advanced scientific study and research.
All of the laboratory spaces face a wooded area to the west through a full-height curtain wall system that stretches the length of the building. Within the lobby, overlooking the undulating landscape to the east, are four freestanding pods clad in copper, stainless steel, and zinc that contain an auditorium, two lecture rooms, and a seminar room, with public gathering areas between them. Faculty offices cantilever above the lobby on the second floor, accessed via an open corridor that overlooks the lobby and expands to study terraces over the pods.
Formal name of project: Bard College, The Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation
Location: Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Gross square footage: 49,000 sq.ft.
Completion Date: December 2006
Total construction cost: $23,000,000
Owner: Bard College
Architect:
Rafael Viñoly Architects PC
50 Vandam Street
New York, NY 10013
212.924.5060
212.924.5858
www.rvapc.com/
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