Dedication of The Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center

A Marvel of Engineering,
a Model of Efficient Design

The building's distinctive appearance and sharp corners are the result of its unusual configuration: an irregular trapezoid. Photo: René Perez

Slideshow: more about the Smilow Research Center

First, there was the tar ball. A fuel tank abandoned by Con Edison 75 years ago had so contaminated the soil being excavated for the new Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center that the debris did not pass the screening test for the Staten Island Landfill Dump. Eventually, the spill was cleaned up and the soil was welcomed.

Then, there was the water. Sixty million gallons of it had to be pumped out of the site - built on landfill that was part of the East River only a century ago - before the foundation could be laid.

Then, there was more water. Not river water this time, but rain water. Just as the foundation was being laid - with 400 steel columns and 9 million pounds of cement to form the "bathtub" that would keep out the river - three inches of rain fell in three hours.

Last, but not least, there was the noise. Some 600 steel piles had to be hammered 125 feet into the ground on a daily basis, jangling the nerves of everyone within earshot for months.

Of course, none of that matters anymore. The Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center is a soaring success story. Now that the shimmering glass-and-masonry tower is open for business, few can even recall the din of days gone by. And when Dean & CEO Robert M. Glickman, M.D., takes visitors on a tour, the most noticeable sound is one they can't hear: the building is so soundproof that helicopters taking off and landing at the nearby heliport are rendered virtually silent.

The building, designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects, is located at the southeast corner of the campus, near 30th Street and the FDR Drive. Built on a half-acre of land that once housed a basketball court and bicycle shed (both relocated), the 230,000-square-foot Smilow Research Center is a marvel of ingenious engineering and a model of efficient design. Its footprint, the shape of an irregular trapezoid, uses every square foot of space available on this corner of the campus.

To keep the water from flowing back in, engineers devised a system of 394 secant piles, or overlapping concrete cylinders - the first of its kind ever used in New York City. The secants are coated with a crystalline waterproofing that expands to plug any holes that may form. In addition to holding the water back, engineers needed to prevent it from seeping into the site. A 3 1/2-foot-thick concrete slab was laid down so that the hydrostatic pressure of the river would not lift the building off its foundation.

To reduce heat and glare, the building's windows are made of highly reflective patterned glass and shaded by aluminum sunscreens. Twelve feet high from floor to ceiling, they afford breathtaking vistas of the East River and beyond.

At a Topping Off ceremony held in November 2004, Dean Glickman paid tribute to the more than 200 workmen present. "The steel skeleton that stands before us may look different from the kind of skeletons we physicians are accustomed to," he said, "but it is nonetheless a work of art."

Slideshow: more about the Smilow Research Center