Cornell Tech Celebrates Official Opening of New Spaces for Academic and Research Programs in the Tata Innovation Center

On May 19, Cornell Tech, the AI Campus of New York City, celebrated the opening of new state-of-the-art spaces for academic programs and research, marking the completion of a year-long, nearly 60,000-square-foot renovation within the Tata Innovation Center on Roosevelt Island.

Held during the city’s annual 2026 NYCxDESIGN festival, the event marked the first time that the building’s entire fourth floor, designed by global architecture firm NBBJ, was opened to the public. Much of the fourth floor space is dedicated to the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center, which is part of the Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP). The Center hosts students from eight programs — spanning architecture, urban design, and urban planning — and expands the campus’s interdisciplinary ecosystem through studio work at the intersection of the built environment and technology. The Gensler Family AAP NYC Center, which originally opened in 2006, moved earlier this academic year into the Tata Innovation Center space from its previous location in downtown Manhattan.

The new facilities are also the Cornell Tech home for the Cornell master’s degree program in Design Tech, a transdisciplinary, two-year degree program taught by faculty from five Cornell University entities — Cornell AAP, Cornell Tech, the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, Cornell Human Ecology, and the Cornell Duffield College of Engineering. Master’s students in the program spend their first year in Ithaca and can choose to spend the second year on the Cornell Tech campus, working with both Cornell Tech and AAP NYC faculty and labs. The first cohort of students who completed the program on both campuses will graduate from Cornell this year.

The milestone was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Cornell Tech Dean and Vice Provost Greg Morrisett; Executive Director of the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center Robert Balder, who spoke on behalf of Meejin Yoon, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) at Cornell University; alongside other leaders from academia, government, community, and industry.

“Since opening Cornell Tech in 2012, we have significantly expanded our capacity to innovate at the intersection of design, architecture, and technology,” said Morrisett. “It’s been especially exciting to welcome the first cohort of our new Design Tech program and to see this space come to life with architects, AI researchers, industry leaders, and public officials. Together, they represent the kind of cross-disciplinary collaboration that drives impact both locally and globally and defines us as the AI campus of New York City.”

The fourth floor also houses research labs focused on electrical and computer engineering and mobile and ubiquitous computing, enabling collaboration across disciplines. The other new spaces in the Tata Innovation Center also include a new coworking space called The Bridge, a new MakerLAB, a lab dedicated to health tech research, as well as the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law, which gives Cornell Tech law students who choose to spend a semester at Cornell Tech an opportunity to work with clients in the New York City area — a first for the law school’s Cornell Tech curriculum.

“This venue expands opportunities for experimentation and engagement across disciplines and in collaboration with our colleagues at Cornell Tech,” said Executive Director of the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center Robert Balder. “The Gensler Family AAP NYC Center has always been about providing our students with opportunities to immerse themselves in the city, engage with its complexities firsthand, and learn from scholars and practitioners who are actively shaping urban spaces across scales and contexts. As we settle into our new home, it’s encouraging that we’re already seeing students bring critical perspectives to their work, expanding the possibilities of their creative practices and sharing that knowledge with civic and community leaders.”

Attending the event were city officials, including New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin; New York City Comptroller Mark Levine; Deputy Borough President of Queens Ebony Young; and New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) Senior Vice President of Innovation Industries Daria Siegel. Also attending was Audrey Tannen, district office director for New York State Senator Liz Krueger.

Following the ceremony, attendees participated in a guided tour highlighting cutting-edge studios, collaborative workspaces, and classrooms built to support experimentation across architecture, art, and advanced design technologies — including projects developed by students in these programs.

The expansion represents a continued investment in New York City’s future, strengthening Cornell Tech’s partnerships with city agencies, industry leaders, and the broader academic community.

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New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin said: “Cornell Tech has become a powerful example of what is possible when higher education, entrepreneurship, and public service come together to solve real-world challenges. From advancing innovation in AI and urban technology to embedding talented fellows directly within city agencies, Cornell Tech is helping New York City become smarter, faster, and more effective. At a time when cities across the country are competing aggressively for talent and investment, strengthening partnerships like these is essential to growing our economy, preparing New Yorkers for the jobs of the future, and ensuring New York remains the global capital of innovation.”

New York City Comptroller Mark Levine said: “Cornell Tech has been an unmitigated success by any measure, driven by a remarkable partnership between Cornell University and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The opportunity Cornell Tech provides for students to grow and flourish in the heart of New York City is extraordinary. Today, it stands as a powerful economic and intellectual engine for the city. The programs represented here integrate tech with what matters for a city — design, architecture, and planning — which may be among the most impactful for us as city leaders.”

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. said: “In the midst of unprecedented housing, affordability and climate crises, New York City needs innovative and effective urban planners now more than ever before. At Cornell Tech, the next generation of architects, designers, engineers and thought leaders are being shaped, and I am proud to support this incredible institution of higher learning in that effort,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. “These new spaces are where students will immerse themselves in the work that will drive our city forward responsibly and sustainably — setting the stage for a stronger, fairer future for all our families. I can’t wait to see the groundbreaking ideas that stem from this investment.”

NYCEDC Senior Vice President of Innovation Industries Daria Siegel said: “Today’s ribbon cutting is a powerful reminder of how innovative spaces like these expand opportunity, strengthen our talent pipeline, and equip the next generation of designers, technologists, and entrepreneurs to lead and help shape a better future for our city. NYCEDC is proud to continue working alongside Cornell Tech to broaden access to high-quality training and create equitable pathways to good-paying jobs across the five boroughs.”

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About Cornell Tech

Cornell Tech is Cornell University’s state-of-the-art campus in New York City that develops leaders and technologies for the AI era through foundational and applied research, graduate education, and new ventures. Located on Roosevelt Island, the growing campus was founded in partnership with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and in close collaboration with the NYC Economic Development Corporation after Cornell won a worldwide competition initiated by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration to create an applied sciences campus in New York City. More than 1,000 Cornell students are now educated annually on the campus, including 700 in Cornell Tech programs. Since opening in 2012, 132 new companies have spun out from startup programs at Cornell Tech, and 95 percent of them are based in New York City. Cornell Tech continues to have a transformative economic impact on the region’s tech sector.

About the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center

The Cornell AAP NYC Program is now in its 20th year of operation. Launched in Fall 2006 in a modest space in Union Square, the NYC program then resided in the historic Standard Oil building in Lower Manhattan for 10 years before moving in Summer 2025 to its new permanent home on the Cornell Tech campus (Roosevelt Island). Its curriculum is unique in the way it taps into the city as a resource. Students have the unique opportunity to learn from some of the most admired architects, designers, planners, and scholars in the world. For 1–2 semesters, students study complex architectural and urban problems in situ, immersing themselves in a vibrant built context while tapping into the vast professional and cultural resources New York City has to offer. The center hosts 200+ undergraduate and graduate students yearly, from eight degree programs.