Columbia University Northwest Corner Building—Bridging Columbia's Past and Future
Joseph Mannino, Columbia University Facilities
Joshua Yacknowitz, Arup
The Columbia University Northwest Corner Building (NWC) is the university's newest interdisciplinary research laboratory, and is the last building to be constructed on one of the only remaining building sites on the historic Morningside Heights campus in New York City. The innovative structure houses innovative flexible laboratories, gathering together researchers in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering, completing the outline of the university's original McKim, Mead, and White's Morningside Heights campus plan. The new laboratory building adds 188,000 gross square feet to the space-constrained campus, of which 115,000 gross square feet will be dedicated to science and engineering research laboratories. When fully occupied, the building will provide research, teaching, and study space for a community of faculty members and students working in 21 distinct laboratories. Among the first areas of research in the laboratories are nanotechnology, single molecule physics and chemistry, biophysics and biochemistry, and synthetic chemistry. The building was designed by Pritzker prize-winning architect José Rafael Moneo, in collaboration with Madrid-based Moneo Brock Studio (project architect), New York-based Davis Brody Bond Aedas (executive architect), and Arup (structural/mechanical, engineering, and plumbing [MEP] engineer).
The NWC building features a myriad of unique design approaches, including a 129-foot bridge span supporting 10 floors of the building; cantilevered link connectors to adjacent buildings; an aluminum louvered façade, which expresses cross bracing locations of the three-dimensional truss structure on the exterior skin; use of mezzanines to maximize laboratory planning efficiency; flexible MEP services distribution to allow for flexible laboratory layouts as new scientific research priorities evolve; and seamless coordination of architecture, structure, and services.
The NWC building offers lessons for planning and execution of a varied laboratory and academic program within an urban site filled with physical constraints. Numerous responses to planning, design, and construction challenges, including an adjacent subway system, historic buried infrastructure, the need to maintain university operations onsite during construction, limited footprint availability due to an existing structure onsite adjacent to public right of way, and opposing views on generic versus customized laboratory planning, provide insight into the facility's success. Currently on track for LEED® Silver certification, with the inclusion of multiple design elements that meet Labs21 criteria, NWC opened in December 2010 and has taken its place on Columbia's campus as a vibrant center for research, academia, and scientific and social exchange.
Biographies:
Joseph Mannino is associate vice president of Capital Project Management at Columbia University. With more than 15 years of experience, which includes a diverse background in the areas of project management, design, construction, and specialty subcontracting, Mr. Mannino has been involved in all phases of project management for new building construction, building additions, extensive interior renovations, exterior envelope upgrades, and complex mechanical upgrades.
For Columbia University, Mr. Mannino has managed over $100 million worth of projects which include Lenfest Hall, renovation upgrades to Carmen Hall, Wien Hall, River Hall, Ruggles Hall, and McBain Hall, and various office and departmental office renovations.
Mr. Mannino is a licensed architect in New York and New Jersey, and his previous experience includes designing institutional buildings and acting as an owner's representative for the City University of New York.
Joshua Yacknowitz is part of the Project Management practice based in New York, and leads the Science and Industry Business for Arup in the Americas, focusing on science/research, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and data centers. Mr. Yacknowitz has been involved in laboratory/research, industrial, and commercial facilities design, and multidisciplinary design project management.
Mr. Yacknowitz is an experienced mechanical engineer with a varied background in HVAC, plumbing and industrial design, facility planning, laboratory design, and project management. Mr. Yacknowitz's experience includes interdisciplinary design management of large teams, HVAC and plumbing, laboratory HVAC design, and industrial facility design.
Mr. Yacknowitz's notable science and industry projects include the Deep Underground Science Engineering Laboratory, Gillette MAPS Manufacturing Facility, Cornell University Linear Accelerator, various confidential pharmaceutical company projects, and the Porex Technologies Industrial Steam Plant.