Recent (Rave) Reviews for the Columbia University Medical Center!
A handful of articles have come out recently in praise of the nearly-completed Roy and Diana Vagelos Medical Education Center, Columbia University's new medical and graduate studies building. The innovative solutions provided by LERA's engineers to bring such an unusual design to life are quickly drawing attention from all corners of the architectural community. Here's a quick overview of what's being said, along with links to the articles (see Dezeen's roundup of famed architectural photographer Iwan Baan's photographs of the newly completed building here):
Architect Magazine was particularly effusive in its praise of the building's design, stating: "Not since Paul Rudolph's brilliant Art + Architecture Building at Yale have we seen a building turn its own corners with such porosity, complexity, wit, and IQ. This is a playground of space, form, and glass, and it's smart." They went on to call it "one of the most intelligent, original, and unexpected buildings of the decade." High praise, indeed!
Architectural Record features LERA's Matt Melrose discussing the "structural gymnastics" of the project.
New York Magazine's Daily Intelligencer described the unique structure as a "Seussian agglomeration of ramps, stairs, and pods hanging in midair" and concluded, "What this academic building offers budding doctors is a live-in lesson in balancing the scientific and the humanistic. They will remember the study group in a sunset-tinged lounge with a view of distant midtown skyscrapers, or a lecture in the wood-skinned auditorium that can nicely accommodate a recital on the resident Steinway grand. The warm palette of burnt-sienna panels, Douglas fir, and orange terrazzo lends a glow to the bleakest nights before exams."
Link: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/08/columbias-med-school-building-first-does-no-harm.html
Architizer highlighted the project's complex feats of engineering, making note of the "slaloming" concrete columns that support the study facade and the post-tensioned floor slabs reinforced with Cobiax void-formers. They also remarked upon the achievement of staying true to the ambitious vision laid out in the original renderings.
ArchDaily published a rundown of the building's features, with some stunning views of the facade.
Link: http://www.archdaily.com/793971/roy-and-diana-vagelos-education-center-diller-scofidio-plus-renfro
Designboom highlighted the glazing and ceramic frit patterns of the facade, and also included informative visualizations of the building's technical details.
Architectural Digest described the building as a "redefinition of medical education at the highest level."
