Graduate Roosevelt Island
Stonehill Taylor worked alongside Snøhetta with a collaborative vision to be eye-catching from both inside and out while maintaining the brand vision for the Graduate Roosevelt Island.
The Graduate Hotel is an 18-story property on New York’s Roosevelt Island integrated into Cornell Tech, the technology, business, law and design campus of Cornell University. Stonehill Taylor is the architect of record for the project, working alongside Snøhetta, the design architect of the project.
Offering unobstructed views of Manhattan, the hotel marks the entrance to the campus and features a full-service restaurant, an indoor-outdoor rooftop bar, and 3,600 square feet of meeting and event facilities.
Stonehill Taylor played an instrumental role in the creation of the lobby space, which features a monolithic 30-foot-tall ceiling made from acoustical plaster. In order to connect the interior space to the exterior, Stonehill Taylor focused on the design of the ceiling. With its unique trapezoidal wedge shape, the ceiling points upward towards the East River and Manhattan while aligning with the exterior soffit and façade planes to convey the sense of a mass floating above the ground. The ceiling is reflectively illuminated by a fixture along the perimeter of the building.
Glass windows make up three-quarters of the wall and when paired with hard floors, Stonehill Taylor was faced with some challenges regarding the acoustics of the space, so the firm incorporated materials to soften the soundscape. Across from the floor-to-ceiling window is a wall of 5,000 square feet of shelving with lighting built into it that bounces off the ceiling to illuminate the space.
The architectural elements of the lobby are carried through to the rooftop bar, featuring a terrace with striking views of Roosevelt Island, the East River, and Manhattan. Located on the third floor, the Minnenhanonck Ballroom features flexible spaces and meeting areas. This zone is equipped with a wood herringbone ceiling and a chamfered corner window that beautifully overlooks the city and river. Sloped concrete buttresses accent the ballroom space and create a dialogue with the steel construction of the Queensboro Bridge.
Architect of Record: Stonehill Taylor
Design: Snøhetta
Stonehill Taylor Design Team: Paul Taylor, Damian Cera, Tania Rojas
Snøhetta Design Team: Craig Dykers, Alan Gordon, Michael Cotton, Samuel Brissette, Todd Ebeltoft
Photography: Steve Freihon
