New Vagelos Education Center praised by critics

Even before its official opening on August 15, the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center has drawn glowing praise from architecture critics and others for its transformative presence.

By bringing on Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in collaboration with Gensler as executive architect, Columbia University Medical Center sought to redefine student collaboration, provide first-rate programming and tools, and reimagine the connection between the campus and its Washington Heights neighbors. Architect Magazine praises the result: “The architects broke through the normally strict calculus of the high-rise to create a non-institutional building, and broke out of the usually deadening sobriety of medical buildings. The project is generous to the street, to the neighborhood, and to the city.”

Below is a round-up of media coverage that touches on everything from the structural magic that raised the building to how its spaces will dramatically reshape how students learn medicine:

• “Diller, Scofidio + Renfro Unveils New Columbia University Medical Building”
  Architectural Digest, 7/26/16
• “Columbia University Medical Center by Diller Scofidio + Renfro”
  A as Architecture, 7/26/16
• “Inside Columbia University's Cascading New Medical Building”
  Curbed, 7/27/16
• “Columbia University Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center”
  Architect Magazine, 8/1/16
• “Rendering to Reality: Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s ‘Cascading Campus’ Takes Medical Education to New Heights”
  Architizer, 8/2/16
• “Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center review – a theatrical medical school”
  The Guardian, 8/3/16
• “Doctor’s orders: DS+R creates a light-filled Medical Center for Columbia University”
  Wallpaper, 8/3/16
• “High tech in the Heights”
  Manhattan Times, 8/3/16
• “First look at DS+R’s new 14-story “Study Cascade” at Columbia University Medical Center”
  Architect’s Newspaper, 8/5/16
• “Diller Scofidio + Renfro completes Vagelos Education Center for Columbia University”
  de zeen magazine, 8/5/16
• “The Approval Matrix: Week of August 22, 2016”
  New York Magazine, 8/7/16
• “See photos of New York’s coolest new building”
  Time Out New York, 8/8/16
• “Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s Diana Vagelos Education Center Opens on August 16 in New York”
  World Architecture, 8/12/16
• “Columbia University Medical Center Opens New Education Center”
  Healthcare Training and Education, 8/16/16
• “See Iwan Baan’s photos of DS+R’s Vagelos Education Center”
  Architect’s Newspaper, 8/16/16
• “The Credo of DS+R’s New Columbia Med-School Building: First, Do No Harm to the Neighborhood”
  New York Magazine, 8/17/16
• “The Vagelos Education Center”
  ArcSpace.com, 8/22/16
• “Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center / Diller Scofidio + Renfro”
  Arch Daily, 8/24/16
• “DS+R’s education building suggests architectural innovation can still be put to the public good”
  de zeen magazine, 9/16/16
• “CUMC Vagelos Education Center”
  Field Condition, 9/16/16
• "Incision Point"
  Metropolis, 10/1/16
• "DS+R’s Vagelos Center masterfully balances verticality, high-tech medicine, and spaces for learning"
  Architect's Newspaper, 10/5/16
• "Columbia University Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center"
  Architect Magazine, 10/24/16
• "Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center"
  Architectural Record, 11/1/16
• "Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s Medical School Defies Physics"
  Azure Magazine, 11/18/16
• "The Best Architecture of 2016: Structures New and Reclaimed"
  Wall Street Journal, 12/11/16
• "The Best Architecture in New York of 2016"
  New York Times, 12/15/16
• "2016 Best of Design Award in Facade: Vagelos Education Center by DS+R with Gensler"
  The Architect's Newspaper, 12/15/16
• "NYC's best new architecture of 2016, from Governors Island to the Oculus"
  Curbed, 12/20/2016
• "Our 12 top building reviews of 2016"
  The Architect's Newspaper, 12/24/16
• "The Best Things America Built in 2016"
  Slate, 12/30/16
• "The 9 Best New University Buildings Around the World"
  Architectural Digest, 2/21/17
• "6 of the Best University Buildings in the World"
  University Herald, 2/22/17
• "What It’s Like to Study Medicine in a Diller Scofidio + Renfro Building"
  Architizer, 3/20/17

Learn more about the Vagelos Education Center. If you are a member of the media and wish to inquire about the building, please contact CUMC Office of Communications & Public Affairs at cumcnews@columbia.edu.