First Look at Cornell's Winning $2 Billion Tech Campus

New details and a visualization from Cornell University's winning proposal to create a "game-changing" applied sciences and technology campus on New York's Roosevelt Island.

2 minute read

December 22, 2011, 11:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


Cornell University, based in Ithaca, New York, worked with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa on a $2 billion proposal for a 10-acre campus on Roosevelt Island. The City of New York offered the site free, along with providing $100 million for infrastructure work in an effort to create centers of innovation, "the way Stanford University has helped seed innovation in Silicon Valley", writes James Russell in Bloomberg News.

"The first 150,000-square-foot building would generate as much power as it would use... In Cornell's proposal, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, people move through multilevel interior courtyards lit by sun sliding between arrays of photovoltaic panels."

Curbed now has the proposed renderings, and BetaBeat features animated aerial view of the proposed NYC Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island emerges.


"If built today, the campus's 150,000-square-foot core academic building would be the largest net-zero energy building in the eastern United States and among the top four largest such buildings in the United States."

The Cornell-Technion proposal includes an enrollment of 2,500 students, 300 faculty and 2 million square feet of state-of-the-art classroom and research space. The campus is expected to generate $23 billion in economic activity over the next three decades, Bloomberg said, as well as $1.4 billion in tax revenue. Building it is expected to create 20,000 construction jobs and 8,000 permanent jobs to operate it.

Thanks to ArchNewsNow

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 in BetaBeat

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

June 11, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Rendering of Shirley Chisholm Village four-story housing development with person biking in front.

San Francisco's School District Spent $105M To Build Affordable Housing for Teachers — And That's Just the Beginning

SFUSD joins a growing list of school districts using their land holdings to address housing affordability challenges faced by their own employees.

June 8, 2025 - Fast Company

Yellow single-seat Japanese electric vehicle drivign down road.

The Tiny, Adorable $7,000 Car Turning Japan Onto EVs

The single seat Mibot charges from a regular plug as quickly as an iPad, and is about half the price of an average EV.

June 6, 2025 - PC Magazine

People riding bicycles on separated bike trail.

With Protected Lanes, 460% More People Commute by Bike

For those needing more ammo, more data proving what we already knew is here.

30 minutes ago - UNM News

Bird's eye view of half-circle suburban street with large homes.

In More Metros Than You’d Think, Suburbs are Now More Expensive Than the City

If you're moving to the burbs to save on square footage, data shows you should think again.

2 hours ago - Investopedia

Color-coded map of labor & delivery departments and losses in United States.

The States Losing Rural Delivery Rooms at an Alarming Pace

In some states, as few as 9% of rural hospitals still deliver babies. As a result, rising pre-term births, no adequate pre-term care and "harrowing" close calls are a growing reality.

June 15 - Maine Morning Star