To be honest, my initial thoughts of the Northwest Corner building weren’t the best; this is not what I would have expected from Rafael Moneo, who is renowned for his skillful use of the brick and stone materials for which he was awarded the 1996 Pritzker Prize. The campus buildings bordering this new structure at the Morningside Campus are made of brick, and given Moneo’s expertise in the material, one would expect him to continue with the same architecture because this high-tech building appears to have come straight from Norman Foster’s desk. However, upon further examination of the structure, I understood that just because it does not meet my expectations does not imply it is not a fine building.
The Northwest Corner building was developed for Columbia University as an expansion to accommodate extra research facilities in response to the university’s growing demand for new structures to be utilized by scientific students and staff. The architect in charge of the project, Rafael Moneo, worked in collaboration with his daughter and son-in-law at Moneo Brock Studio to design what has come to be referred to as a hinge between Columbia University’s past, and future. Davis Brody Bond Architects and Planners were associate architects for this project, which students have come to refer to as the “heat sink” due to the amount of sun-inflicted heat entering the classrooms from its South facing windows.
The structure was cantilevered over an existing gymnasium on a portion of the site that remained unfinished from the 1897 masterplan designed by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead & White. This property was planned to be an empty lot. Nonetheless, after many years of being abandoned, it has found a new function as the Francis S. Levien Gymnasium, a 2,760-seat arena. The stadium had become synonymous with the university’s basketball teams, acting as a rainy-day venue for commencement ceremonies, and the architects had to work around it. The architects had to construct atop over the existing building without breaching it in any way, which posed a significant difficulty for the project.
The architects consulted and collaborated extensively with multinational engineering company Arup to create a massive steel truss from which areas in the base are suspended. The base would have a library, a café, and a 170-seat lecture hall. This choice presented additional issues for the facades, but the architects used a diagonal bracing system of aluminum fins and façade panels to produce an appealing façade despite the obstacles.
The structural system designed by Arup’s structural engineers satisfied criteria for 12-meter clear spans in the labs and auditorium, while the stiff laboratories employed diagonal cross-bracing around the perimeter. According to architect Rafael Moneo, the boldest expression of the structural elements was given to the library, which was located between the roof of the gym below and the mass of the building overhead, yet made completely free of any columns within its space.
The building houses faculty offices, classrooms, and research facilities for the disciplines of chemistry, biology, engineering, and physics. The client wanted a building that would allow students and staff from its multi-disciplinary science department to easily interact dubbing the new project as both an intellectual and physical bridge.
The award-winning building connects to the older chemistry and physics buildings via glazed bridges. In order to prevent additional loading of the older buildings, the bridges have been cantilevered from the new Northwest Corner building.
The 14-story building adds 6,500 square metres of lab space by constructing 21 additional laboratories across seven levels. The remaining floors also hold a new scientific library, which is projected to free up to 2,790 square metres in four other buildings on campus. The double-height scientific labs let in a lot of light, which illuminates the mezzanine floors that house faculty offices and semiprivate student workstations. Gathering areas were created around the labs to allow students from all disciplines to mingle while fostering discussion and exchange of information.
The auditorium and library, in particular, are two spaces with extremely beautiful interior decorations. With the wood furnishings and natural daylight reaching the spaces, undoubted warmth from the wood-laden interiors complements the two spaces, assuredly bringing back ‘the Moneo’ in a structure that seems out of place in his portfolio.
Columbia University is currently developing a new campus a few streets north of the Northwest Corner building. The new 17-acre West Harlem campus sparked controversy among locals over how the site was acquired. The majority of inhabitants are similarly critical of Rafael Moneo’s new construction, stating that it detracts from the college and town street character. With the new building failing to reconcile the two sides, one can only imagine what the 17-acre campus will do. For the time being, the Northwest Corner building will serve as a connection between Columbia University’s old and proposed new campuses.
Project Information
Architects: Rafael Moneo, Moneo Brock Studio
Associate Architects: Davis Brody Bond Architects & Planners
Lead Architect: Rafael Moneo
Structural & Mechanical Engineers: Arup
Client: Columbia University
Location: New York, USA
GFA: 17,465 sqm
Completed: 2010
Photography: Huanhai Cheng, Carlos Afonso, NewNewYork2010, Karen S. Mata Ortas, Carly Dean, Michael Moran Studio
