Roy and Diana Vagelos Columbia University Medical and Education Center by Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) announced that its new, state-of-the-art medical and graduate education building will be named the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center. The building, dedicated last night on the CUMC campus in Northern Manhattan, will be officially open and in use in August 2016.

The Vagelos Education Center, designed by the New York-based interdisciplinary design studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler as executive architect, is a 100,000-square-foot, 14-story glass tower that incorporates technologically advanced classrooms, collaboration spaces, and a modern simulation center to reflect how medicine is taught, learned, and practiced in the 21st century. The design seeks to reshape the look and feel of the Medical Center and also create spaces that facilitate the development of skills essential for modern medical practice.

“Space matters for structured and informal learning,” says Elizabeth Diller, founding partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro. “To support Columbia’s progressive medical education program, we designed a building that will nurture collaboration. Its defining feature is the Study Cascade–a 14-story network of vertically linked spaces in a variety of sizes, both focused and social, private and communal, indoors and out.”

Construction began in September 2013 with an initial lead gift from P. Roy Vagelos, MD, a distinguished alumnus of Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S), and his wife, Diana Vagelos, an alumna of Barnard College and vice chair of the Trustees of Barnard College. The Vagelos Education Center was funded through the generosity of many committed friends, faculty, and alumni donors.

In addition to the new Vagelos Education Center, initiatives to revitalize the campus include adding green space, creating a new gateway to the medical school, consolidating student services, renovating several existing buildings, and constructing new spaces, including the new home for the Columbia School of Nursing. The Vagelos Center will help define the northern edge of the campus and provide a bridge to the surrounding Washington Heights community.

Columbia University Medical Center Unveils Design for New Medical and Graduate Education Building

Building design led by Diller Scofidio + Renfro

The Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center is a 14-story glass, concrete, and steel structure defined by the “Study Cascade”—a network of social and study spaces distributed along an exposed, interconnected vertical staircase that extends the height of the building—and encompasses 100,000 square feet of state-of-the-art medical and scientific facilities. The alcove interiors of the Study Cascade, designed to be conducive to collaborative, team-based learning and teaching, open onto south-facing outdoor spaces and terraces. Other key elements of the design include:

Ground floor lobby and café, which adjoin a “study bar” with views of the Palisades
Student Commons, which features a café, computer work area, and computer labs
Advanced clinical simulation center, a specialized space for mock examination rooms, clinics, and operating rooms
Multipurpose auditorium, a 275-seat flexible space used for campus-wide events such as lectures, screenings, and concerts
“Academic Neighborhoods,” groups of classrooms that can be configured according to need by operable partitions, drop down screens and large-scale multi-user touch screens, suspended ceilings, and distributed power and data at the floor
South and West Courts, outdoor spaces featuring local plant species
Anatomy Quad, a flexible learning space with integrated screens and task lighting

“The Vagelos Education Center started with a clear vision as a place of excellence for higher learning that would also act as a much needed social center,” says Maddy Burke-Vigeland AIA, principal at Gensler. Because of everyone’s deep involvement, it has transformed into something that exceeds even those high expectations: a vibrant new hub for Columbia’s Medical Center Campus.”

DS+R’s design takes advantage of an incredible view of the Hudson River and the Palisades. The building also integrates a range of sustainable features—including locally sourced materials, green roof technologies, and an innovative mechanical system that minimizes energy and water use—and the façade features ceramic “frit” patterns that are baked onto the exterior glass to diffuse sunlight. All new construction and renovation projects—including the Vagelos Education Center—work toward the goal of minimizing CUMC’s carbon footprint and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2025.

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The Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University. Exterior detail of the south facade and study cascade (under construction, June 2016) by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photograph @ courtesy of Columbia University Medical Center.

The Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University. Exterior view of the south facade and study cascade. Photograph @ Nic Lehoux, courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

The Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University. Interior view of the Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family Lobby. Photograph @ Nic Lehoux, courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

The Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University. Interior view of the Clyde and Helen Wu Auditorium. Photograph @ Nic Lehoux, courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

The Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University. Interior view of the Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family Lobby (under construction, June 2016). Photograph @ Nic Lehoux, courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

The Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University. Exterior night view of the south facade and study cascade (under construction, June 2016). Photograph @ Nic Lehoux, courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Exterior view rendering. The Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Program. The Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Inside view rendering. The Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Exterior nocturnal view rendering. The Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University, by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

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Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro and Benjamin Gilmartin. Diller Scofidio + Renfro Studio

Diller Scofidio + Renfro Studio. Founded in 1981, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) is a design studio whose practice spans the fields of architecture, urban design, installation art, multi-media performance, digital media, and print. With a focus on cultural and civic projects, DS+R’s work addresses the changing role of institutions and the future of cities. The studio is based in New York and is comprised of over 100 architects, designers, artists and researchers, led by four partners--Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro and Benjamin Gilmartin.

DS+R completed two of the largest architecture and planning initiatives in New York City’s recent history: the adaptive reuse of an obsolete, industrial rail infrastructure into the High Line, a 1.5 mile-long public park, and the transformation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ half-century-old campus. The studio is currently engaged in two more projects significant to New York, scheduled to open in 2019: The Shed, the first multi-arts center designed to commission, produce, and present all types of performing arts, visual arts, and popular culture, and the renovation and expansion of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Most recently, the studio was also selected to design: Adelaide Contemporary, a new gallery and public sculpture park in South Australia; the Centre for Music, which will be a permanent home for the London Symphony Orchestra; and a new collection and research centre for the V&A in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Recent projects include the 35-acre Zaryadye Park adjacent to the Kremlin in Moscow; the Museum of Image & Sound on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; The Broad, a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles; the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley; the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University in New York; and The Juilliard School in Tianjin, China.

DS+R’s independent work includes the Blur Building, a pavilion made of fog on Lake Neuchâtel for the Swiss Expo; Exit, an immersive data-driven installation about human migration at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris; Charles James: Beyond Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Arbores Laetae, an animated micro-park for the Liverpool Biennial; Musings on a Glass Box at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris; and Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design at the Jewish Museum in New York. A major retrospective of DS+R’s work was mounted at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Most recently, the studio designed two site-specific installations at the 2018 Venice Biennale and the Costume Institute’s Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. DS+R also directed and produced The Mile-Long Opera: a biography of 7 o’clock, a free, choral performance featuring 1,000 singers atop the High Line, co-created with David Lang.

DS+R has authored several books: The High Line (Phaidon Press, 2015), Lincoln Center Inside Out: An Architectural Account (Damiani, 2013), Flesh: Architectural Probes (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011), Blur: The Making of Nothing (Harry N. Abrams, 2002), and Back to the Front: Tourisms of War (Princeton Architectural Press, 1996).

DS+R has been distinguished with the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture, Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential" list, the Smithsonian Institution's 2005 National Design Award, the Medal of Honor and the President's Award from AIA New York, and Wall Street Journal Magazine's 2017 Architecture Innovator of the Year Award. Ricardo Scofidio and Elizabeth Diller are fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and are International Fellows at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Elizabeth Diller

Elizabeth Diller, (Poland,1954), is a partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Alongside partner Ricardo Scofidio, Diller’s cross-genre work has been distinguished with TIME’s "100 Most Influential People" list and the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture.

Elizabeth Diller has also received the Wolf Prize in Architecture. Most recently, she led two cultural works significant to New York: The Shed and the expansion of MoMA. Diller also co-created, -directed and -produced The Mile-Long Opera, an immersive choral work staged on the High Line. Diller is a member of the UN Council on Urban Initiatives and a Professor of Architectural Design at Princeton University.

Ricardo Scofidio

Ricardo Scofidio, AIA (New York,1935), is a partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Alongside partner Elizabeth Diller, Ric’s cross-genre work has been distinguished with TIME’s "100 Most Influential People" list and the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture. He led the design of the High Line – the adaptive reuse of an obsolete, industrial rail infrastructure into a 1.5 mile-long public park, Blur Building – a pavilion made of fog on Lake Neuchâtel for the 2002 Swiss Expo, and contributed to the redesign of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, and The Broad in Los Angeles.

Ric spearheads many of the studio’s independent works, including Soft Sell, a video installation in an abandoned porn theatre in Times Square; Tourisms: suitCase Studies, an investigation of American tourist attractions at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; and Musings on a Glass Box for the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris. He is a Professor Emeritus at The Cooper Union School of Architecture.

CHARLES RENFRO

Charles Renfro, AIA (Baytown, Texas in 1964) joined Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) in 1997 and became a Partner in 2004. He led the design and construction of the studio’s first concert hall outside of the US - The Tianjin Juilliard School in China - as well as the studio's first public park outside of the US - Zaryadye Park in Moscow. Charles has also led the design of much of DS+R's academic portfolio, with projects completed at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Brown University, the University of Chicago, and the recently completed Columbia Business School.

Charles is also leading the design of two projects in his native Texas: the renovation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas, and Sarofim Hall, a new home for Rice University’s Visual Arts department in Houston. Charles is the Co-President of BOFFO, a nonprofit organization that supports the work of queer LGBTQ+ BIPOC artists and designers. He has twice been recognized with the "Out100" list and has also been distinguished as a notable LGBTQ leader by Crain's New York Business. He is a faculty member of the School of Visual Arts.

Architecture GENSLER

Gensler is a global architecture, design, and planning firm with 46 locations and more than 5,000 professionals networked across Asia, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and the Americas. Founded in 1965, the firm serves more than 3,500 active clients in virtually every industry. Gensler designers strive to make the places people live, work and play more inspiring, more resilient, and more impactful.

Arthur Gensler Jr., FAIA, FIIDA, RIBA (1935—2021) founded the firm in 1965 together with his wife Drue and their colleague James Follet. He is widely credited with elevating the practice of interior design to professional standing. He was a Fellow of both the American Institute of Architects and the International Interior Design Association, and a professional member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Art graduated from Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning and was a member of its Advisory Council. A charter member of Interior Design magazine’s Hall of Fame and a recipient of IIDA’s Star Award, he also received Ernst & Young LLP’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2015, he wrote Art’s Principles to offer entrepreneurs the business insights he wishes someone had given him when he was starting out.

Arthur Gensler is recognized as an industry icon and an astute businessman who propelled a small practice into the largest and most admired firm in the industry over the course of his 65-year career.