renzo piano + SOM's columbia university campus to go ahead
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renzo piano + SOM's columbia university campus to go ahead


columbia university campus in west harlem by renzo piano and SOM


back in 2004 columbia university proposed a 6 billion USD 17 acre campus plan by renzo piano
and SOM, for a satellite campus in nearby west harlem. but to build the project, the university
needed to acquire private property from owners who did not want to sell, forcing it to use
the power of eminent domain to acquire the land. since then there has been decisions made to
not allow the development to proceed. however last week it was announced that columbia university
has now been given the legal go ahead to construct the campus.

the first building to rise up on the new west harlem campus by renzo piano will focus on brain research,
but the jerome l. greene science center is being designed for both non scientists and neuroscientists.

read more








initial sketch of the campus by renzo piano



model of the columbia university west harlem campus



model of the columbia university west harlem campus



site plan
ridhika db
07.20.10  
4
Glass boxes in Harlem? Seems a departure for Piano and not in a good way. Hard to tell from the scant info but looks like a bland office park plunked down with little respect for context. And, oddly, it looks remarkably like NYU's proposed expansion in Greenwich Village. Universities can make really dumb building choices.
Tom P   07.20.10
i am a fan of piano
but this looks like 1985 or the set of "working girl"
juliano   07.20.10
Looks very nice. I think it will be a major improvement to this area (which now just light manufacturing, a gas station and self-storage). The area just north of this space, Hamilton Heights, is starting to revitalize as well. This area of Manhattan, having been neglected for so long, should really begin to blossom again. Thank you to Columbia and I hope the rest of the area to the north takes similar design cues -- lots of glass, open air and trees. Great stuff.
Jeff Banyan / http://modularmodern.com   07.20.10
I think that the design does not encourage contemplation or offer any releif from the play of glass and steel. It's scale encourages submission to a corporate dictum and looks more than a shopping area than a university. I suppose it is a good thing to encourage integration into this stream at an early age, perhaps we can convert some malls into primary schools real soon as well.
Stephen Lack   07.20.10
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7

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2

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