Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center

A Hospital Addition Showered in Light

Wedged into a former courtyard between two buildings, the Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center is the newest and greenest addition to the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. It adds new operating rooms, supports dialysis and other patient procedures, and includes an auditorium and conference centers.

We provided structural design and preliminary curtain wall design, collaborating with Pei Cobb Freed & Partners on the 140,000-square-foot project. The hospital was kept fully operational during construction, which concluded in 2009.

Highlights

• The signature architectural element of the project is an exposed and highly detailed curved climate wall, the first in New York City.
• The climate wall couples with a 70-foot tall atrium enclosing glass bridges that span the existing hospital buildings and the Heart Center.
• The climate wall is constructed of vertical tensioned cable trusses within the climate wall cavity, with point-supported glazing on the exterior and floor-to-ceiling glass panels on the interior.
• The 30-inch interstitial space permits airflow to efficiently cool or heat the space. The atrium vertical wall is supported by horizontal cable trusses, supporting point-supported glazing, and architecturally exposed steel plate beams supporting a glazed roof.
• The LEED Gold certified project has six floors above ground and three floors below.