LERA'S Columbia University Medical Center Project wins Annual Award from The Concrete Industry Board

The Concrete Industry Board of New York selected the Columbia University Medical Center, Medical and Graduate Education Building for the top honor of the year, The Annual Award at the 53th Annual Roger H. Corbetta Awards dinner held at the Marina del Rey in the Bronx on November 12, 2014. The project team includes architecture firms, Gensler and Diller Scofidio + Renfro and structural engineer, Leslie E. Robertson Associates (LERA). Sciame Construction is the Construction Manager and General Contractor for the project. The new Medical and Graduate Education Building will provide modern classroom spaces, immersive simulation and advanced training facilities for the 21st century. The CIB Awards jury selected the project for superior work, which exemplifies quality concrete. The jury stated: "The design and construction of the building incorporated some of the most recent innovations in concrete technology, including voided slabs, post-tensioned and self-consolidating concrete." The project consists of a 15-story concrete tower above grade with one basement level. The building is a unique sequence of cascading concrete floors interconnected by stairs and ramps, creating a vertical campus within the building. To accomplish the designs long cantilevers, the floors are formed of bonded post-tensioned concrete slabs. A slab void former system, called Cobiax, is used to reduce the self weight of the slabs.