Cornell University Constructs Weill Hall

Cornell University is constructing the $162 million Weill Hall in Ithaca, N.Y. The 250,000-sf building, also known as the Life Sciences Technology Building, is slated for completion in early 2008. The research facility will be the centerpiece of Cornell's New Life Sciences Initiative (NLSI), an effort to promote the college’s progress in genomic-led research. The facility is expected to attain LEED Gold certification for sustainable design and construction. The project will feature recycled aluminum panels on the exterior skin, green roofs, and occupancy-based lighting and HVAC sensors. The four story building will house laboratories and classrooms for interdisciplinary research and teaching in the biological, physical, engineering, computational, and social sciences. It will house the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology and the Department of Biomedical Engineering, which combines biology, medicine and engineering. The building will also be home to the Department of Computational Biology, a biophysics center, business incubator, and the H. Laurance and Nancy L. Fuller Learning Center, a wing focused on both formal and informal exchanges among researchers, faculty, and students. Weill Hall, funded by a $50 million donation from Joan and Sanford Weill and $25 million from New York State, will be the largest life sciences research facility in the state.