Cornell University’s North Campus Residential Expansion project adds approximately 2,000 new student beds, dining facilities, and recreational spaces to the North Campus. It allows the University to house all first-year students in campus housing specifically designed for the first-year residential experience, as well as all sophomore students living in campus residence halls and other associated housing. In total, the project adds 737,000 gross square feet to the campus’s residential, dining, and recreational spaces. The project aims to refine the residential experience and foster interaction and collaboration among students through its creative and innovative floor plans and abundant common areas.

The principal building enclosure system is architectural precast concrete. Precast panels are faced with integral terracotta facing tiles, and incorporate aluminum-framed unit windows. Panel construction includes two wythes of concrete flanking a 4” thick continuous polyisocyanurate insulation core. Carbon fiber lattice binds these layers into a structural composite. Extensive proof-of-concept testing was undertaken to validate performance of the terracotta cladding and the composite assembly. Selection of this prefabricated system met the design intent while addressing the challenge of cladding a large project in a tight labor market where an equivalent field installed rainscreen cladding system could not deliver the project schedule.

Heintges provided building envelope consulting services during all phases of design and construction.

Image Credit: Van Zandbergen Photography