VOLUME 12, NUMBER 15 • FEBRUARY 16, 2001

Master Space Plan to Support Scientific Expansion

As the university celebrates its 100th birthday this year, various projects–some currently under way, others planned for the near future–seek to ensure the university’s physical vitality for another hundred years. This "master space plan" includes the modernization of the campus’s oldest buildings and the construction of a new research tower on the north end of campus, all designed to better locate people and services to allow the best science to flourish.

A new master space plan for the university addresses the changing needs of the Rockefeller community.

In June 1999, the board of trustees approved President Arnold J. Levine’s five-year academic plan, which calls for adding new faculty in key disciplines, fostering research that crosses disciplinary boundaries, modernizing the university’s research hospital and creating additional state-of-the-art laboratory space. In addition to these research imperatives, the plan addresses the changing needs of the campus community, in particular the needs of the growing ranks of younger scientists.

To fully implement the President’s plan, the administration commissioned Payette Associates, a Boston-based architectural firm, to evaluate the Rockefeller University campus. Working with the President’s Office and the Office of Planning and Construction, Payette produced a master space plan to determine an efficient use of space on campus to accommodate future growth. The plan was approved by the board of trustees at its meeting last November.

According to George Candler, director of Planning and Construction, "Over the last several decades, use of the campus has been weighted toward the south end, particularly in the cluster of Bronk Laboratory and the Rockefeller and Weiss research buildings. As we think about new uses of space in the future, the master space plan attempts to balance the campus and reinvigorate the north end."

The northwest corner of campus will be developed initially. The space plan calls for the construction of a 12-story research tower with three levels of underground parking on the site of the 68th Street parking lot and esplanade. The space provided in the new building will begin to satisfy the space requirements of the academic plan. An "in-fill" building is planned where the 68th Street loading dock now stands, which will bring the area to the same level as the rest of campus and add about one acre of green space. "The goal is to provide new lab space and bring in necessary infrastructure–electrical and emergency power, a new loading dock–to the north end of campus," says Candler.

After the new construction is completed, the focus will switch to modernization of the adjacent older buildings. Candler says that personnel will be moved out of Smith Hall, which will be renovated from top to bottom. Core facilities will be brought to Smith Hall to support the research of scientists working throughout campus. Flexner Hall will also be renovated from the fourth floor down, and the ventilation, exhaust and electrical systems will be modernized.

Work is currently under way to correct structural problems on the upper levels of Founder’s Hall "to make it fit for another 100 years," says Candler. The master space plan also calls for the development of an administrative hub in Founder’s and Welch halls and in Nurses Residence.

"We want to move administrative offices out of spaces that are better suited for laboratory work and consolidate them in a more efficient relationship," says Candler.

Also, the gym will move to Founder’s Hall from the Graduate Students Residence to accommodate expansion of the Child and Family Center.

Candler says that modernization of the 90-year-old Hospital consists of completing several "make ready" projects, which relocate people to make room for construction. The inpatient unit is being consolidated on the third floor of the Hospital. Floors four, five, and six are under construction now. To provide for distribution of modern services to all floors, two shafts have been cut through the building.

At same time, a new addition is being made: the south wing of the fifth floor will be new laboratory space, while the south wing of the sixth floor will be the central mechanical equipment room, with air handlers for the entire building.

When completed, the fourth floor will house the Breslow and Stoffel labs, the fifth floor will contain the Rice lab and the Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, and the sixth floor will provide space for incoming Physician-in-Chief Barry Coller, with room for another laboratory.

One of President Levine’s goals, reflected in the master space plan, is to consolidate academic fields of interest. "Currently, it is difficult to move labs around, space is too tight and we lack the flexibility to place labs in their most appropriate locations," says Candler.

As part of the space planning process, Payette conducted a detailed review of campus history and its growth. The new space plan will ensure that the university’s future expansion is sensitive to that history, especially with respect to the landscape design of Daniel Kiley.

Payette also evaluated the deferred maintenance of each building on campus and compiled a master list of things that need to be addressed, and the offices of Planning and Construction and Plant Operations have developed a plan to address major portions of the list every year.

Overall, Candler says, the Payette plan "provides a blueprint for growth and a set of guidelines for decision making. It gives us the ability to locate people logically and allows us to plan rational distribution of space and function."