Last month, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art held a topping-out ceremony to celebrate the raising of the final beam to the highest point of the superstructure of the college’s new academic building on Third Ave. between E. Sixth and Seventh Sts. Dr. George Campbell Jr., president of The Cooper Union, right, hosted the event and introduced Frank Sciame, C.E.O. of F.J. Sciame Construction Co., the building’s construction manager, left. The new building is in the background. Attendees signed an architectural drawing of the building, which would later be put into a time capsule at the site. The Cooper Union’s new building will be New York City’s first green academic laboratory. It will house the Albert Nerken School of Engineering and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, along with additional facilities for the School of Art and the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture. Designed by 2005 Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis, the nine-story, 175,000-square-foot, full-block building incorporates many environmentally sensitive features, such as a cogeneration plant, green roof and radiant heating and cooling ceiling panels. Built to qualify for the U.S. Green Building Council’s gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard with the possibility of achieving a platinum rating, it will also be the city’s first LEED-certified academic lab building.
