The 5-hectare site is located on the narrow, elongated Roosevelt Island, located in the middle of the East River and connected by bridges to Manhattan and Queens. Near the recently opened memorial to F. D. Roosevelt, a project by Louis Kahn, will soon begin the implementation of a technology campus project, the master plan of which was developed by the SOM bureau. It is expected that by 2037 there will be built about a dozen buildings for various purposes (only 195,000 residential square meters) and the entire infrastructure. In the meantime, technical students and teachers are huddled in the 18-story Google building in the Chelsea area.
The first stage (until 2017) is an academic building, a training center with a hotel, housing for students and teaching staff, as well as about 0.5 hectares of public space connecting all these facilities. The design of this trial balloon was commissioned by Tom Main and his Morphosis bureau. The Los Angeles-based architect believed that such a "flagship of innovation" should produce as much energy as it consumes - that is, go to the "zero" level. For this, one of the country's largest "factories" for the production of solar energy, arranged on an openwork canopy, will be mounted on its roof.
In addition, Maine reminded his customers that Roosevelt Island is located very low in relation to sea level, and the waters of the East River can flood it from time to time (not to mention the gradual rise in sea level). To avoid difficulties associated with possible flooding for students and teachers, the designers calculated the so-called "high line" (drawn through the highest points of the landscape), along which the pedestrian walking area was designed, connecting the campus buildings and the territories adjacent to the university.
The center of the educational building will be a spacious glazed atrium with a public area on the ground floor, “entangled” with galleries. In fine weather, thanks to the automated sliding glass panels, it will turn into part of an open walking area. Another interesting detail: they plan to install elevators at opposite ends of the building so that people use them less often. There is nothing to be done: an energy efficient building, as well as concern for the health of the population (this is not the first time Maine uses this technique).
Construction will begin in 2014, but in the meantime, this site houses a semi-abandoned hospital complex from the 1930s, already intended for demolition.
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