A decade-long master plan for NYU Langone hospital is finally coming to fruition despite setbacks from Hurricane Sandy.
The not-for-profit hospital’s location on the large superblock that runs from East 30th to East 34th streets between the FDR Drive and First Avenue has enabled the facility to create a connected campus environment surrounding hidden courtyards and planted space.
The beautiful 18-story Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Pavilion, designed by Ennead Architects and NBBJ and scheduled to open by July on East 34th Street, will house a state-of-the-art expanded emergency room on the ground floor, with single occupancy patient rooms above. “It will be patient- and family-centered,” says Vicki Match Suna, senior vice president, real estate development and facilities.
The emergency room (ER), now at the base of Tisch Hospital, is being expanded into the base of Kimmel and will contain private treatment rooms for a better patient experience. Adds Suna, “The ER will set a new standard of care.”
The Kimmel Pavilion includes a dedicated children’s entrance, complete with its own lobby and elevators, off 34th Street. This area will include access to outdoor space, courtesy of a grand terrace that wraps much of the glass tower.
Other portions of the terrace will serve the new dining facility. “We are making sure everyone has access to greenery and nature,” says Suna of the biophilic elements, including garden hubs and seating between the towers.
In both 2008 and 2009, NYU’s medical school was ranked No. 34 by US News & World Report. It was “a wake-up call,” says Jeremy Paul, assistant dean for Basic Science Operations at NYU Langone Health.
Suna, an architect and real estate executive, assisted with strategic thinking and developed a transformational plan that — eventually — relocated certain facilities, demolished older buildings and constructed new ones.
Some of the hospital’s administrative offices were moved to One Park Avenue, while its renowned but aged Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine building was demolished. Ambulatory patients were moved to 240 E. 38th St., while inpatient rehab was moved within the Schwartz Health Care Center, known as the HCC, which sits near the southwest corner of the site. To its east, older dorms were demolished and students were moved off-site to East 26th Street.
These moves enabled the development of a just-opened, 365,000-square-foot Science Building, connected via walkways and green spaces to the entire campus. Created with an eye toward melding technology and bioscience, the new building brings together researchers who had previously been scattered across the campus and the neighborhood, including at the nearby privately owned Alexandria Center, where NYU will still maintain lab space. The school hopes the Science Building, also designed by Ennead Architects, will be a key recruitment driver, luring top researchers and grants.
“We want to be able to attract the best talent in the world,” says Gregory Williams, director of NYU Langone’s science communications. The facility is already getting results: Several Johns Hopkins researchers and doctors have decamped to NYU. Itai Yanai, Ph.D. a biochemist and geneticist, was recruited from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and now head’s NYU’s Institute for Computational Medicine. With three floors devoted to neuroscience, the Science Building also places a considerable focus on this field of study.
“We have had significant net growth, with 70 to 80 research labs that can hold 800 people,” says Paul. These include wet/dry labs with movable desks and shelving on most of the floors, along with shared tools like centrifuges.
The southern and eastern façades of the Science Building are fitted with louver-like sunshades that are perfectly angled and fritted with tiny white dots to diffuse sunshine and heat. A Cisco-connected conference room has views along the East River. From its corner window, occupants can spot the dedicated ferries that bring staff from the NYU Langone hospital in Brooklyn to the East 34th Street ferry landing a few steps away.
These “renaissance scientists” can sometimes spend up to 20 hours a day in the lab, according to Dafna Bar-Sagi, Ph.D, senior vice president for science and chief scientific officer. That’s why hospital leadership made a conscious decision to add a large pantry and café hangout area with its own calming and beautiful river views to encourage mingling and discussions among the scientists.
The redesign of the campus also includes a new library, as the old one was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Improved signage — including touch screens — landscaping and artwork are “relatable elements” to create a positive experience for students, staff, faculty, patients and visitors.
The hard work has paid off. In late March, the executives and doctors celebrated NYU’s 2019 No. 3 ranking. It’s tied with Stanford, and right after Harvard and Johns Hopkins.
Says Paul of the future, “We are a highly aspirational institution.”
