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For a leading clinical and medical research center such as Weill Cornell Medical College, there is no substitute for being on the cutting-edge. That’s why when it decided to invest in the creation of the Belfer Research Building in New York City, it made every effort to build a state-of-the-art facility, doubling the size of its research space and allowing the college to look forward to a future full of industry-leading research. 

“The college’s mission includes not only teaching physicians but also conducting research and providing patient care,” says Weill Cornell Campus Arch­itect William Cunningham. “This building will support the research mission and is the third of three strategic plans the college has had over the last 15 years. The first encouraged research in fields such as genetic medicine and biochemistry, and the second was focused on supporting the clinical mission. This will help address what has been a chronic shortage of space for the college.”

Located at 69th Street between First and York Avenues, the Belfer Research Building is scheduled to open in 2014. It will be a 480,000-square-foot facility fo­cused on translational bench-to-bedside research. The building comes with a $637 million price tag and is the central piece of the college’s $1.3 billion Discoveries that Make a Difference campaign, which has thus far raised $1.1 billion in a little more than five years.

The realization of the project is due in large part to a $100 million dollar gift from New York City philanthropists Renee and Robert Belfer, after whom the facility is named. Weill Cornell announ­ced the gift in November. The family has a history of giving millions of dollars to support advancement and innovations in medicine.

Designed by Ennead Architects, the building includes open floor plans through­out the facility. The idea is to improve the way scientists communicate and collaborate. It is located near the Weill Green­berg Center, the college’s ambulatory care building. This should also smooth communication lines between research­ers and clinicians. 

Tishman Construction is the construction manager for the project. The building will feature 19 stories above grade and three stories below grade. Because the facility was designed to be sustainable and energy efficient, with a glass façade that maximizes the use of natural light and reduces energy use, the project is aiming for LEED Silver certification. Tishman is also using building information modeling (BIM) on the pro­ject, which helped solve some mech­anical, electrical, plumbing and structural steel design issues stemming from the fact that The Belfer Research Build­ing is a laboratory building. 

“Construction began in 2009, and design began several years before that,” Cunningham explains. 

“When the project was initially de­signed, BIM wasn’t as prevalent as it is now,” he adds. “Tishman produced the model of the building in BIM themselves to aid their work on the project.”

Purpose-Built

It is anticipated that the building will help Weill Cornell Medical College’s programs in cancer research, heart health, brain health, children’s health, biomedicine, global health and infectious diseases, diabetes, metabolic disorders and obesity. With cancer re­search, the Belfer Research Building will serve as home for the new Weill Cornell Cancer Center. Around heart health, the building will help Weill Cornell study treatments for heart disease in the areas of atherosclerosis, angiogenesis and cardiac genetics. 

As for brain health, the facility should positively impact Weill Cornell’s work around Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Looking at children’s health, the research building will improve the ability of Weill Cornell’s physician-scientists to work together to find breakthroughs around leukemia, epilepsy, asthma, diabetes, autism and childhood infections. With biomedicine, it will enhance the college’s ability to study regenerative medicine and stem cell biology. 

Moving on to global health and infectious diseases, the Belfer Research Building will be at the center of the college’s network of scientists and physicians who are researching methods of fighting infectious diseases and treating chronic diseases. As for diabetes, metabolic disorders and obesity, the facility will help Weill Cornell’s researchers with everything from studying ways to treat diabetes and insulin-related metabolic disorders to developing new therapies to treat diabetes and obesity.

“The building was designed for collaborative and translational research, translational being research into diseases that can be immediately transferred into patient care,” Cunningham says. “Coll­ab­orative research will be achieved by the way the building is populated. In­stead of assigning space by department, floors will be assigned to research in various disease entities with floors focused on everything from children’s health and neurodegenerative diseases to cardiovascular diseases and more.”

In addition, the building will include state-of-the-art lab equipment. This means the facility will serve as a magnet for attracting scientists, physicians, students and patients.

Steps Ahead

The building was topped out in early November 2011, and exterior cladding and windows are now being installed. Exterior enclosure should start in early 2012, and what Cunningham called a “highly sophisticated double curtain wall on the south side of the building” should start going up next summer. By fall of 2012, the building should be enclosed, he says.

“At that point, we’ll start on the interior and finish trades,” Cunningham says. “The roughing for the mechanical and electrical are going in now. We expect to start purchasing equipment and furnishings in the fall of 2012.”

The double curtain wall, which Perm­asteelisa Group is providing, is something Cunningham sees as a key step. It has undergone extensive performance and structural testing. Overall, Cunn­ingham says Weill Cornell is thrilled with the progress made thus far on the building and enthusiastic about its eventual completion.

“Credit must be given to Ennead and Tishman, as well as our project director, Bob Musco, for the work they have done,” Cunningham says. “The project has gone very smoothly, and we’re on budget and on schedule. That is impressive for a project of this size, complexity and duration.”