Memorial Sloan-Kettering New Research Building

Rank #2
Cost: $414 million

The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center began construction of its first new research building since the 1980s with a project that won't be completed until 2008.

The new 693,000-sq.-ft. research center on East 68th Street between York and First avenues in Manhattan will be built in two phases. The first phase will consist of a 23-story, 557,000-sq.-ft. building with three basements. It will house 16 biomedical laboratory floors, one chemistry floor and faculty offices. The first phase of construction will also include the building of a rectory for St. Catherine's Church and will cantilever over the present Kettering Laboratory.

The second phase of construction, which won't take place until researchers in the present Kettering Laboratory are relocated and the structure is demolished, will consist of a 10-story, 135,000-sq.-ft. building with two basements.

The fit-out will consist of 310,000 sq. ft. of linear wet lab space, 90,000-sq.-ft. vivarium spaces, a glass wash area, 70,000 sq. ft. of shelled dry lab space, a 350-seat auditorium, six common conference rooms, lab support areas and lobby and common space.

Designs for the research building were developed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP of New York and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, a Portland, Ore.-based firm with special expertise in laboratory design.

The building's exterior will be a mix of glass and masonry, with a masonry base at the lower levels to integrate the design into the surrounding neighborhood.

Glass in the laboratory will be treated with a special silk-screen process called "fritting" that will control light that enters the building and the amount emitted. This control, along with integrated sun-shading devices in the office areas, should create an energy-efficient building that can be operated cost effectively.

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