Columbia University Medical Center
Audubon Research & Technology Park
New York, NY

Lasker BLDG. 105,000 sf • Berrie Pavilion 175,000 sf • Irving CTR. 304,000 sf

Columbia University commissioned Davis Brody Bond to develop a master plan for the new Audubon Research and Technology Park adjacent to the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. The goal of the master plan was to promote science and provide new modes of health care as well as to stimulate business, create jobs, and help improve neighborhood life. The first phase of the master plan included the restoration of the historic 1912 Audubon Ballroom and the subsequent design of the six-story Mary Woodard Lasker Biomedical Research Building. The ground floor contains retail space and a conference center that is shared by researchers and the community; and the five floors above are outfitted for use as laboratory and office space, with the second floor housing a portion of the community health clinic.

Following the restoration of the Ballroom, the Mary Woodard Lasker Biomedical Research Building was designed, becoming the first new building to be implemented from the Master Plan. It is a six-story, 105,000 square foot building with a penthouse and full cellar. The ground floor contains retail space and a conference center that is shared by researchers and the community. The five floors above are outfitted for use as laboratory and office space, with the second floor housing a portion of the community health clinic. While the Lasker Building incorporates the existing terra cotta façade of the Audubon Ballroom and shares a common wall and entry space, their functions are separate and they are not internally connected. 

The Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion is the Park’s second new building. It is dedicated to research in the fields of preventive medicine, in particular diabetes, cancer and genome research. The building includes laboratories, a vivarium administrative offices, seminar rooms, ground floor retail space and an underground parking garage. The Naomie Berrie Diabetes Center is located on two floors of the Pavilion and includes ambulatory care facilities. 

The Irving Cancer Research Center, Phase III of the project, adds approximately 304,000 square feet of space to the park and includes molecular oncology and bio-informatics research laboratories, clinical laboratories, a breast screening facility, vivariums, below-grade parking and potential street-level retail. The new structure completes the elevation on the east side of St. Nicholas Avenue and Broadway, opposite the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center campus, creating a unified research park. The project includes the recently completed Florence Irving Auditorium.

(Photography by Roy Wright and Mark Ross)