Ithaca, NY – Architecture and design firm NBBJ is completing construction on the Thurston Hall addition for Instructional Labs at Cornell University’s College of Engineering. The addition will serve as the new home for the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering (BME) and will also provide new research labs for the Department of Material Science Engineering (MSE). Located prominently on Cornell’s Pew Engineering Quad, the project is scheduled for completion in late summer 2024.
Representatives say the contemporary 50,000sf addition plays a vital part in the transformation of the Pew Quad, creating a strong presence that both defines an edge and establishes a welcoming front, and that it also strengthens the identity of BME, one of Cornell’s fastest-growing academic programs that outgrew its space in another campus building. It will provide highly flexible, state-of-the-art instructional and research labs and promote interdisciplinary collaboration across a range of programs.
Thurston Hall addition – under construction
The design of the exterior creates a distinct volume of laboratory space at the upper three floors, floating above a differentiated base on the ground level. The lab floors are clad in regular, alternating bands of formed metal panels and glazed aluminum curtainwall, which facilitates maximum flexibility for teaching and research uses inside the addition. An open, double-height lobby and a block of shared conference rooms are positioned at key moments in the facade that correspond to important sightlines and pedestrian pathways on the quad. This ensures both high visibility of the addition’s more active program elements as well as views back to the campus from inside.
The space between the volume of new labs and the former facade of Thurston is filled with an open study area designed to encourage cross-department interaction. This distinct space is connected vertically with a communicating stair running the entire four floors of the project. The open stair, along with a large skylight directly above, is designed to create a sense of both connection and expansiveness in the relatively narrow zone between the new and original construction.
The Thurston Hall addition features fabrication labs and collaboration areas where teams can both brainstorm ideas and actively build projects together. The first floor features the BME Design Lab, outfitted with electronics benches and maker spaces that support student collaborations with industry leaders.
The Thurston addition adheres to the strict requirements of the Ithaca, N.Y. energy code. To minimize thermal loss in the building enclosure, the Thurston addition features a 20% window-to-wall ratio, which limits the amount of glass across the facade. On a larger scale, the team also evaluated multiple building systems to best integrate with Cornell’s existing lake-sourced chilled water system and a future ground-sourced warm water system. To manage stormwater, bioswales were inserted along pathways in the quad. The project is tracking for LEED Gold certification.
