Silicon Island
Click thumbnails below for full screen view.
Spring 2013 | Professor John Zizzovici | Site analysis in collaboration with Jackie Haynes | Conceptual development in collaboration with Aaron Goldstein and Eda Yetim
Assignment: to re-design Cornell’s Tech Campus as proposed by SOM, reconsidering a 2-million square foot master plan on New York City’s Roosevelt Island with intermingling academic, corporate, and residential programs.
Solution: "Inverted-skyline” slabs on both the East and West faces, a reaction to the Manhattan and Queens skylines, house the primary programs: classrooms and labs, commercial office space, and housing. These two slabs are bifurcated diagonally by “Broadway-like” condition that provides access to all programs and vertical circulation points at the level of the plate, and on the ground plane, provides arches akin to the Queensborough Bridge for retail and commercial functions on the ground plane.
Discussion: idealized as a miniaturized Manhattan on Roosevelt Island, the slab formations are understood as city blocks while the Broadway-like condition acts as an avenue connecting the disparate programs at the level of an elevated platform, granting views to the surrounding city-scape. On the roof, a Highline-like park runs the length of the approximately 1500ft complex, providing space for recreation and reflection. On the ground plane, the Broadway as idealized as a aqueduct with arches, allowing for retail spaces to access the ground plane park.