Ithaca, New York
for Health Sciences contains spaces for physical therapy, occupational therapy, exercise and sport sciences, the gerontology institute, laboratories, computer facilities, lounges, and offices. Aesthetically, it blends with the neighboring existing buildings and is physically connected to Smiddy Hall at the second and third floors to allow free access to departmental faculty offices housed there. The four-story building has exterior masonry cavity walls, composed of CMU faced with brick and stone, and light-gauge spandrel panels faced with limestone. Structural steel columns and beams support composite slab-on-metal-deck floors. Thick slabs were used to dampen vibrations initiated in the exercise spaces and potentially felt by building occupants and vibration-sensitive equipment. The complex, multi-level roof is composed of curved, sloped, and flat areas framed with steel. This creates large clear spans above the three-story atrium and therapy clinics. The main entry to the building features an exterior cast-in-place structural concrete slab plaza, topped with a paver system, over a portion of the basement. Cast-in-place concrete columns support the plaza. The foundations are conventional spread footings bearing on rock. The tight sloping site required two-story basement walls, anchored with rock anchors.
