Columbia University, Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center

overview

Located on the Spuyten Duyvil Creek tidal estuary in Upper Manhattan, the Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center is the heart of the Baker Athletics Complex. The facility features a unique design that allows flood water to flow through the building while protecting mechanical systems and other operations. The design adds resilience to current and future climate risks, including coastal and tidal flooding, heavy rainfall, extreme heat, high winds and severe winter weather. Incorporating these considerations was part of a risk-informed, future-focused approach that reaches beyond New York City codes.

We provided structural engineering, resilience consulting, multi-hazard climate risk assessment and resilient design services to Perkins&Will for the two-story tennis center, which contains six indoor courts and six outdoor rooftop courts. The facility, which also houses coaches’ offices, conference and meeting spaces, a strength and conditioning area, student-athlete lounge and hospitality areas, is open to alumni, affiliated hospital staff, faculty, students and their families.

highlights

• Our flood resilience strategy aids in the reduction in embodied carbon and ensures the facility's enhanced long-term resilience and quick return to normal operations.
• Building the facility high enough off the ground to avoid a 500-year flood would have been prohibitively expensive, so our resilience team developed a series of vents that open to allow water to flow in and out of the first floor during a storm. When stormwater subsides, the courts can be cleaned and used immediately.
• The six rooftop courts are supported on long-span steel framing, and both levels incorporate post-tensioned concrete underlayment to mitigate cracking on the playing surfaces.