The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center is the academic hub of the Cornell Tech campus. Photo credit: Iwan Baan.
Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center
“Cornell Tech Mag” by Michael Riedel. Located on the cafe ceiling and table tops, Riedel’s striking, black-and-white graphic imagery started with the first four volumes of Donald Knuth’s landmark publication, “Th Art of Computer Programming.”
“Everything that Rises Must Converge” by Matthew Ritchie. Located in the four-story atrium just beyond the main entrance, Ritchie considers his work to be a way to encourage Cornell Tech students and faculty to view their research as part of the larger human project.
“Ordinary Objects of Extraordinary Beauty” by Matthew Day Jackson. Located in a second floor meeting room, this collection of found objects creates a space that reflects the physical world beyond the institution.
“Abstraction” by Ilya Bolotowsky. This 50-foot-long mural was originally commissions by the U.S. government’s Federal arts Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA/FPA). It was one of four abstract paintings created for the common rooms in the Goldwater Hospital complex which previously stood on the site of the Cornell Tech campus.
“Reclamation” by Alison Elizabeth Taylor. Located in a fourth floor meeting room, this work represents the continual churn of the cycle between nature and human endeavor.
Overview
Every campus needs a home base, and The Bloomberg Center is Cornell Tech’s hub for learning. Named in honor of Emma and Georgina Bloomberg, it is the intellectual nerve center of the campus, bringing together students and faculty to collaborate across disciplines — but also serving as a venue for chance collisions between academia and the world at large.
Designer: Thom Mayne, Design Director, Morphosis
Art
The Bloomberg Center has a rich art program, creating opportunities for contemplative breaks from the intensity of the work going on across campus. A mural from the pre-World War II hospital that stood on the site suggests a futuristic optimism with colorful, jazz-like abstraction. Much of the artwork was consciously chosen because it was not tech-inspired, like a forest scene created in rich inlaid woods, calling out the eternal, psychic push and pull between nature and human endeavor.
Architecture
The four-story academic building is designed to support the idea that innovation is a collective enterprise. Ample open space encourages collaboration, allowing teams to spread out, actually create things, and put ideas into action. Designed by Thom Mayne of the Pritzker Prize-winning firm Morphosis, the building is clad in a warm bronze-colored metal and topped by a swooping lilypad-shaped roof. It takes its shape from its triangular site facing the public plaza, the nexus of the campus.
Sustainability
Pioneering new standards in building performance and targeting LEED Platinum Certification, The Bloomberg Center sets the bar for the rest of the campus. With power entirely generated on campus, it aspires to be among the largest Net-Zero energy buildings in the United States. Its passive energy-efficient design includes a rooftop photovoltaic array system and geothermal heating and cooling systems.
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