Northwest Corner Building
The Northwest Science Building has been destined by Columbia to fill the last remaining plot on the upper Morningside Heights campus. It is being built over the Levien Gym and the tennis courts between Pupin Hall and the Havemeyer extension, as well as the last undeveloped portion of the Grove just north of Levien and west of Pupin. The project started on 19 March 2007 and should be completed by 2010. Levien Gym won't be closed for the most part of the project, and Dodge Fitness Center as a whole won't close at all.
Building description
The building will be on the southeast corner of Broadway and 120th St, opposite Barnard's Nexus. It will be considerably taller than neighboring Pupin and Chandler Halls, though it will still connect to them via pedestrian bridges at multiple levels, similar to those connecting Pupin, CEPSR, and Mudd.
The 188,000 square foot building will feature campus lobby, science library, lecture hall, several classrooms, faculty and administrative offices, and 7 floors of science and engineering laboratories. The street level floors are tentatively being reserved for a 120th St. lobby, lounge, dining location, and possibly an entrance to the gym.
Design and construction
The lead architect is José Rafael Moneo, selected by Bollinger for his "extreme sensitivity to context".
In the 1970s, when Dodge Fitness Center was built, the Levien Gym was fitted with 4 super-columns at its corners, which would allow a building to be constructed above it without pesky additional columns. The Northwest Science Building will be constructed on these super-columns, thus placing no weight on the Levien Gym roof, allowing it to remain open.
Furthermore, the building will be insulated to reduce the impact of vibrations from the subway on the laboratory spaces.
History of the site
The Northwest Science Building was the source of the Athletics Facilities Scandal. In the early 1990s, the Athletics Department proposed an extension of Dodge for the site that would hold a teaching swimming pool, racquetball courts, and an international squash court. When the Athletics Director at the time, John Reeves, was unable to raise any money for construction, it was decided to use the site for a science building with a few floors for athletics. But when President Bollinger took office, Reeve's boss, Provost Jonathan Cole, "forgot" to tell PrezBo about the the plans. Cole decided to build a science-only building instead, without informing Reeves of the change in plan. Reeves found out when the Spectator broke the news about the building in 2004.
