by Shane Henson — December 30, 2011—New York City’s Applied Sciences NYC initiative, launched to increase the Big Apple’s capacity for applied sciences and dramatically transform its economy, will gain even more momentum through the development of an environmentally innovative two-million-square-foot applied science and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island, called NYC Tech Campus. According to city officials, the campus will be a partnership of New York City with Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
Cornell/Technion’s proposed NYC Tech Campus will combine cutting-edge technologies to create one of the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient campuses in the world. The proposed phase one academic building, if completed today, would be the largest net-zero energy building in eastern United States, meaning it will harvest as much energy from solar power and geothermal wells as it consumes on an annual basis.
The campus is planned to include a solar array that will generate 1.8 megawatts at daily peak and a 400-well geothermal field, which uses the constant temperature of the earth to cool buildings in the summer and heat them in the winter. The well field and solar array would each be the largest in New York City if built today. The campus will not only employ some of the most sophisticated environmental technology in the world, it will also help develop them, serving as a living laboratory for the Built Environment hub.
The NYC Tech Campus is expected to become a world-leading institution, conferring graduate degrees and conducting research in the applied sciences with a commitment to innovation, commercialization, and the creation and retention of businesses and jobs in New York City. The campus will be organized around three interdisciplinary hubs: Connective Media, Healthier Life, and the Built Environment. Academic uses are anticipated to range from classrooms to laboratories, libraries, teaming areas and lecture halls, to start-up incubator and accelerator space. The remainder of the space in the campus will be devoted to residential uses and a conference center, as well as ancillary uses such as retail in support of the faculty, staff and students on the campus.
