Cornell’s Gates Hall is just about complete, and move-ins for the Information Science Department have begun for faculty, staff, and a few classrooms/workspaces are set up. It’s pretty wild on the inside, and the entryway cantilever provides an interesting preview of that (plus, when the weather is nicer, I think it would provide a nice assembly space). The lobby features semi-transparent glass, through which you can see the stairs up to each level, and clear glass panels for glimpses of each floor.

Many of the rooms are still being put together, but much of the common area furniture is already setup for use. Besides the concrete features on the outside, I didn’t see any finishes on the inside that aren’t completed, although I bet there’s much work to be done moving everything over, hooking up computers and networks, etc. Moving an entire department must be challenging. Floors are concrete, much like Milstein Hall, and there’s a bold amount of glass and steel everywhere. I’ll surely be coming back soon to explore much more- especially to walk around on the transparent floor at the end of the cantilever- vertigo anyone?

Cornell’s future home for the CIS program, Gates Hall has made some exterior progress since late November, however, I’ve noticed that the facilities page now indicates (on the right-hand side) that early 2014 is the scheduled opening, rather than December 2013 as previously announced. The angular south-west entry way retaining walls have been poured, the stair structure and rebar is in place, and a couple more pre-fab concrete “feet” have been assembled on the western entryway. I imagine that the interior has been the major focus for finishing-up to get the school moved-in; Spring instruction starts January 22nd, although, judging by peaks from the outside, the goal may be during semester.

The entry structure is really coming together now, and with the fencing down, the view from the street is fantastic. There’s a bit of framing to form concrete for the stepped entry along the southeastern end where the sign for the building will be attached. The entryway on that side will match the shape of the cantilever above to create an interesting perspective.

These came out quite grainy, but hopefully they give a sense of what this building looks like at night. With all the glass, it’s lit-up like a Christmas tree on every floor, and I imagine the new entryway will have a bunch of floods illuminating the cantilever ceiling, as well as plenty of spots lighting the entryway. Speaking of the entry, the feet-structures are still coming along, and there’s a new concrete wall along the corner of Hoy and Campus Roads, where the level entry will be (the opposing side will have stairs from the sidewalk, shown below).

The construction fence outside Gates Hall has been taken down and now you can get a really good perspective of what this building looks like. The entryway has been ongoing since around July, and there was a contractor working on the ceiling panels of the cantilever when I stopped by; there will be a section of what looks like a steel-reinforced glass floor (see render below) for those that like to tempt feelings of vertigo. There’s a bunch of rebar and rebar sheets stacked on the site, so I think part of the fence being taken down is to make room for trucks to compact the soil and start hardscaping for the rest of the entry. There’s also new curbing all the way around the site edges, and new asphalt.
Got a chance to see the infamous Thomas Mayne/Morphosis Cooper Union 41 Cooper Square project this weekend in NY- it’s wild in person, especially at night, as I imagine Gates Hall will be (Morphosis designed Gates Hall, as well as an impressive slew of other high-profile insitutional/corporate projects- see the Giant Interactive Campus in Shanghai; they’re also designing Cornell’s NYC Tech Campus)

More entry assembly work here, and the swooped ceiling panels look completed, providing a nice contrast to the exterior facade. The construction should be finishing up in December so that SCI can move-in January to be ready for the Spring 2014 semester.

Just learned some new info here: the metal shading structures on the exterior facade are done by the A. Zahner Company, a firm out of Kansas City, MO that fabricates custom metalwork for projects all over the world.

Just some updated photos of Gates Hall from last week- entryway “feet” are growing. Wonder how heavy those concrete blocks are..

Not much to see here on the outside, but the entryway work has a couple more feet-like steel structures in place, and you can see a nice-looking woodgrain ceiling application underneath the cantilever. Excited to see the final product; without a doubt, it will probably be one of the coolest entries of any building in Ithaca.