New Cornell Campus to Cultivate High-Tech Industry in New York City [Slide Show]
A collaboration with an Israeli University will incubate start-ups from an East River island with a colorful past
![New Cornell Campus to Cultivate High-Tech Industry in New York City [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/3607E135-D603-44F7-A16E88E34A0FEE53.jpg?w=590&h=393)
New Cornell Campus to Cultivate High-Tech Industry in New York City [Slide Show]
- TRAMWAY: Roosevelt Island is perhaps best known for its tramway, completed in 1976 to help ferry people to and from Manhattan's Upper East Side. Each tram cabin has a capacity of up to 110 people and makes about 115 trips per day. The inset in the upper right corner is a view from the tram as it descends onto the island. The Queensboro Bridge can be seen to the right. The tram is likely to be an important mode of transportation for NYC Tech faculty and students. Courtesy of Larry Greenemeier
- RENWICK RUINS: The ruins of the smallpox hospital designed by architect James Renwick and built in 1856 have been designated as a historic landmark and cannot be razed, even though they remain upright with the help of a wood and metal support structure. Renwick also designed the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C. The image in the upper right corner is an artist's sketch of the hospital, which closed in the 1870s and was later occupied by a nursing school. Courtesy of Larry Greenemeier and Wikimedia Commons
- A NEW KIND OF CAMPUS: An artistic rendering of the 18.6-hectare NYC Tech Campus to be built by Cornell University and Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. Plans call for the campus to include a solar array that will generate 1.8 megawatts at daily peak and a 400-well geothermal field, which uses the constant temperature of the earth to cool buildings in the summer and heat them in the winter. Courtesy of Cornell University
- THEN AND NOW: The large balconies on the eastern side of Goldwater's buildings used to offer staff and patients some relief from the summer heat. (The buildings were not air-conditioned.) Access has since been restricted due to safety concerns as the buildings have aged, according to Island historian Berdy. The top left inset is a photo taken during Goldwater's construction. Courtesy of Larry Greenemeier and Roosevelt Island Historical Society Archives
- EAST RIVER ISLAND: Roosevelt Island has had many names over the past few centuries—including Minnahanonck (a Native American phrase meaning "nice island"), Hogs Island, Blackwell's Island and Welfare Island. Its current name emerged following the construction of state government–subsidized low- and middle-income apartment buildings in the 1970s as part of the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program. This historical photo shows the southern portion of the island as well as the plans for Goldwater hospital, the site of Cornell and Technion's proposed NYC Tech campus. Courtesy of Roosevelt Island Historical Society Archives
- REVIVAL: Directly to the south of the proposed NYC Tech Campus, renovations are underway to restore landmark buildings. One such building is Strecker Memorial Laboratory, which was built in 1892 as the first U.S. institution for pathological and bacteriological research. The lab was abandoned in the 1950s but recently renovated. Courtesy of Larry Greenemeier and Wikimedia Commons
- WELFARE ISLAND LAB: In its early days Goldwater maintained a 100-bed research unit where Columbia University and New York University physicians studied the effects of malaria, cold weather, starvation, arthritis, liver disease and other conditions on volunteers, according to Judith Berdy, president of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society and an island resident since 1977. Notice that the words "Welfare Hospital" have been removed from above the lab's former entrance. Roosevelt Island was known as Welfare Island (due in part to the presence of its almshouses) from 1921 to 1973. Courtesy of Larry Greeneeier
- AERIAL VIEW: Goldwater Hospital covers four hectares, with seven connected buildings, shaped like chevrons to provide a better view of the East River on either side of the 240-meter wide island. This view of Goldwater was taken from the Roosevelt Island Tramway, a car suspended from an overhead cable that ferries passengers between the island and Manhattan's Upper East Side. (The tram has been featured in several films, including Spiderman and Night Hawks.) The top right inset is a photo taken from a similar vantage point around the time Goldwater opened in 1939. Courtesy of Larry Greenemeier and Roosevelt Island Historical Society Archives
- AN ENDING, A BEGINNING: Cornell and Technion plan to build their 18.6-hectare NYC Tech Campus on the site of Roosevelt Island's Goldwater Memorial Hospital, established in 1939 as a long-term care facility. The hospital was originally called Chronic Disease Hospital but renamed a few years later after its founder, Sigmund S. Goldwater. The New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. (HHC) owns both Goldwater and Bird S. Coler Hospital (built in 1952 on the northern part of the island to provide services similar to Goldwater's). Goldwater and Coler together care for about 1,800 patients, including 300 confined to hospital beds. Most patients are expected to be placed in other HHC facilities, although the details have yet to be worked out. Courtesy of Larry Greenemeier
