The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, established in 1859, is among the nation's oldest and most highly regarded and distinguished institutions of higher learning. The college, the legacy of Peter Cooper, occupies a special place in the history of American education. It is the only private, full-tuition scholarship college in the United States dedicated exclusively to preparing students for the professions of art, architecture and engineering.

 

The Morphosis design for the new 9-story, $120 million full-block facility, is conceived as a "vertical campus." The building will house Cooper Union's Albert Nerken School of Engineering - one of the top three engineering schools in the nation - and will also provide space for the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture and the School of Art.

 

VDA is providing full consulting services for a service elevator and two passenger elevators for the project. The passenger elevators skip stops at several floors:  instead, stairways up from or down from those floors encourage personal interaction and physical activity within the building.  When this project completes in 2010 the current engineering school, just north of the site, will be razed and the lot leased to developers.