Cornell’s Tech Campus Aims For Net Zero

A spirit of sharing and connection is conveyed by large windows looking into the studios. The kitchen area, with its large island, is designed to host events.

Canada’s first satellite. Bleacher seating allows teams to work in a reflective space away from their desks. The space also promotes open-air meetings and musical performances, as does the open staircase that ascends one level.

Under the mezzanine, the repair and transformation of instruments is carried out in an open workshop area. Once dark and gloomy, the MXMA team transformed the space into a bright and lively place by integrating new windows that overlook a terrace to the south. In addition to providing an abundance of natural light, they offer views of the historic building, also visible from the bleachers, like a window on the past of a great era for the sound industry.

SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING NEW To stay within budget when selecting materials, Moreau decided to retain as much of the building’s existing concrete fl ooring as possible, which had previously been covered with linoleum tiles. Varnished chipboard panels cover the bleachers and stairs, evoking the complexity of wood instruments. Several of the old RCA recording-studio doors were recovered as a design statement, while modern architectural solutions revamped the Victor Room, the building’s original studio. In addition to new acoustic walls, fl oors, and ceilings, each room was designed to contain sound and to insulate other tenants of the building against it. Additionally, the shape, textures, and fi nishes of the control room were completely redone.

“We brought expertise in soundproofing to this project, as well as notions of intimacy,” noted Moreau. “We are experienced in condominium construction, so the idea of building small boxes within a large box, while designing acoustically independent parts, is one of our strengths.”

That expertise was also applied to the construction of La Hacienda’s ceilings, using springs to absorb vibration, and in the design of air-conditioning and heating systems that are extremely discreet and quiet. Despite an abundance of concrete beams and low ceilings, Newsam and MXMA overcame the building’s technical challenges in order to provide La Hacienda with a truly unique sound studio. CA

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Geothermal system forms backbone of a versatile HVAC system in the Bloomberg Center building on Roosevelt Island in NYC.

Jay Egg, Egg Geothermal

Above. The Bloomberg Center, on the 12-acre Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in NYC is an elegant mix of design features that include radiant floor heating, dual-purpose modular chiller/heat pumps, and active chilled-beam cooling, all of which are connected to a decoupled ground-loop geothermal system. Photo: Jay Egg

Below. The geothermal system uses a vertical-loop design consisting of 80,400-ft.-deep vertical boreholes into which closed loop HDPE exchangers have been inserted (inset). Today, the borehole field serves as a park. Inset photo: Jay Egg

Seven years ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg requested proposals from universities for a new or expanded engineering and applied-sciences campus in New York City. Though competition was stiff, with the likes of Stanford, Columbia, and Carnegie Mellon submitting proposals, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY, was awarded the project.

The Bloomberg Center, the education facility on the 12-acre Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in NYC, opened in July 2017, welcoming its first 250 students. The Center is an elegant mix of design features that include radian- floor heating, dual-purpose modular chiller/heat pumps, and active chilled-beam cooling, all of which are connected to a decoupled ground loop. A goal for the building is to earn LEED Platinum status and net-zero performance.

GEOTHERMAL SYSTEM GI Energy, New York, was chosen to develop the earth-loop design. The company has completed numerous projects around the world and is currently engaged in the geothermal design for the new Google campus outside San Francisco.

Cornell’s geothermal system uses a vertical-loop design consisting of 80 400-ft.-deep vertical boreholes into which close-loop HDPE exchangers have been inserted. Normally, the boreholes are filled with bentonite grout to enhance heat transfer and seal the borehole. In this case, the boreholes were drilled into solid rock with a water-bearing fracture zone below 300 ft. Groundwater movement through the zone enhances the ability of the HDPE exchangers to extract and reject heat for the 360-ton HVAC system.

Designs such as this are actually fairly common in northern European locales such as Sweden and Norway (countries that are actively and extensively using geothermal heating and cooling). This unusual, but favorable, application shows the importance of understanding variables in earth-loop design. As an example, the city of Drammen, Norway, uses a central river-source geothermal system to heat and cool its 225 commercial buildings, as well as 65,000 residences.

Could the Cornell project have done something similar to what was done in Drammen? Yes, that was an option, but NYC authorities having jurisdiction, and decision-makers across the country for that matter, do not yet have a sufficient comfort level with placing heat exchangers in rivers. The education required to reach that comfort level is why the New York state government is devoting considerable resources to geothermal-system educa