Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

A new gateway brings architectural clarity, and much-needed gathering space, to this veterinary school campus.

A smiling professional appears and informs you that your Labrador is fine and probably just ate some tinsel. You might thank them—or activated charcoal—but you might also thank a small ring of buildings on the outskirts of Ithaca, N.Y., where the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) has been responsible for educating more specialists and developing more innovations than any of its peer institutions. The school’s influence is nearly ubiquitous. “It’s really the premier program of its kind. … They’ve even been helping the Chinese government,” says Weiss/Manfredi design partner Marion Weiss, FAIA, referring to the school’s multiple initiatives abroad, including a new quasi-affiliate in Hong Kong.

Until now, the department has not had the most charming of digs, with students, doctors, and teachers being squirreled away (so to speak) in an unwelcoming compound on the university’s eastern side. Now, thanks to Weiss and partner Michael Manfredi, FAIA, the CVM finally boasts a physical presence commensurate with its international prestige.

The subcampus includes facilities for research, students, and doctors. The problem until now, Manfredi says, is that “there was no place for those three worlds to combine.” The warren of structures that had accumulated over a half-century afforded no common area that could knit the various parts into a cogent whole. To create one, Weiss/Manfredi cut into the compound on its western side, inserting an oblong volume fronted by a landscaped entryway; the structure rises slightly to face another courtyard in the rear. Along the building’s central axis, the designers created an airy atrium that acts as both a lounge and a connector, its interior lined in ribbed wood and with a custom carpet whose vivid green mimics the exterior forecourt. “It’s like having a year-round garden,” Weiss says—a key asset in a city where winter lasts for nearly the entire academic year.

Along the atrium’s flanks are a suite of amenities that include a cafeteria, a flexible classroom/amphitheater, and a library; these complement additional interventions, among them the recladding of an existing high-rise to match the new structure. The result is a visually coherent gateway to the veterinary compound and a quietly monumental endpoint to Tower Road, the major east-west corridor between Cornell’s historic Arts Quad and its growing technical and research satellites. For the animal saviors of tomorrow, so long accustomed to dark and dreary environs, the renovation is a welcome change, creating order out of the architectural chaos. As Manfredi puts it, “We cut the Gordian knot.”

Project Credits
Project: Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ithaca, N.Y.
Client: Cornell University
Architect/Site Design: Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism, New York . Michael A. Manfredi, FAIA, Marion Weiss, FAIA (design partners); Clifton Balch (project manager); Matthew G. Ferraro, Assoc. AIA, (senior project architect); Michael Steiner, AIA (project architect); Noah Z. Levy, Lee Lim, Johnny Lin, AIA, Joe Littrell, Charles Wahl, AIA (project team); Christopher Ballentine, Michael Blasberg, Ann Charleston, Assoc. AIA, Claire Edelen, Melaney Gorman (additional team members)
Interior Designer/Landscape Architect: Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism
M/E/P Engineer: Altieri Sebor Wieber
Structural Engineer: Silman Civil Engineer: T.G. Miller
Geotechnical Engineer: SJB Services; Empire Geo Services
Construction Manager as Agent: Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.
General Contractor: Welliver
Lighting Designer: Brandston Partnership
Laboratory Consultant: Jacobs Consultancy
Curtainwall Consultant: Heintges Consulting Architects & Engineers
Acoustical/AV Consultant: Shen Milsom & Wilke
Sustainability/LEED Consultant: Atelier Ten
Cost Estimator: Dharam Consulting
Food Service Consultant: Davella Studios
Code: Code Consultants
Hazmat: Watts Architecture & Engineering
Vertical Transportation: Jaros Baum & Bolles
Size: 117,000 square feet (67,000-square-foot expansion, 50,000-square-foot renovation)
Cost: Withheld