Plans Revealed for All-Electric Biomedical Research Building in Washington Heights
An 8-story development planned to house biomedical research and lab facilities has been revealed by Columbia University. The site within the university’s medical campus is located at the corner of 167th Street and Audubon Avenue in Upper Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood. Among several environmentally sustainable features that are “set to outperform emission limits set by New York City’s Local Law 97 and support Columbia’s Plan 2030 greenhouse gas reduction goals, designs for the new facility incorporate an “all-electric design, including air source heat pumps and air-side energy recovery systems working together to reduce total energy needed to condition the building.” The project that is a “first-of-its-kind electric research laboratory in New York City” also integrates organic elements such as green walls and natural, renewable materials in collaboration spaces. Expected to break ground this summer, the project is partially funded by a Regional Economic Development Grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority that supports low-carbon developments in underserved neighborhoods.