Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Bill Gates Dedicates Cornell University's New Gates Hall

  • 10/06/14

ITHACA, NY — Bill Gates visited Cornell University on October 1 to dedicate the university’s new Computing and Information Science (CIS) building and help celebrate 50 years of computer science at the institution.

Bill & Melinda Gates Hall is designed to help foster Cornell faculty research collaboration and to strengthen students’ educational experience by bringing together two CIS academic departments — Computer Science and Information Science — in one facility. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $25 million toward the $60 million total cost of the project.

Cornell University President David J. Skorton and Cornell CIS Dean Haym Hirsh joined Bill Gates in a ceremony to officially open the new building.

President Skorton calls the building “a stunning addition to the Cornell campus” and says it will “facilitate collaboration and the free exchange of ideas, and inspire our students, faculty and staff through elegant design and state-of-the-art sustainability.”

Cornell CIS Dean Haym Hirsh says, “Cornell University has helped shape the face of computing for 50 years, since the creation of our Computer Science department. Through the generosity of the Gates Foundation and our other donors, Gates Hall will help us continue to be a world-leader in computing and information science — and an education and research model in the information economy — for the next 50 years and beyond.”

Designed by award-winning architect Thom Mayne and the Morphosis architecture firm, Gates Hall features human-computer interaction, networking and systems, robotics, vision and graphics and artificial intelligence labs; a 150-seat lecture hall; distance-collaboration technology; and space for faculty, researchers, graduate students and support services. Ninety-five percent of the building has natural light, and LEED Gold certification is pending. Construction on the 101,455 gross-square-foot facility began in 2012, and it was completed earlier this year.

About Cornell CIS
Cornell Computing and Information Science (cis.cornell.edu) was established in 1999 to respond to the educational and scientific challenges of the information age. Composed of the Computer Science, Information Science and Statistical Science departments, this college-level unit’s mission is to integrate computing and information science into every academic field. Cornell CIS programs reach thousands of Cornell students across multiple colleges.

Featured

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • KWK Architects Announces Full Transition to Lawrence Group Branding

    KWK Architects recently announced that it will complete its transition to the Lawrence Group brand effective July 1, according to a news release. The merger marks the end of a three-year strategic integration process that began in March 2023 to unite the firms.

  • Montclair State University Starts Construction on $120M STEM Building

    Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., recently broke ground on a new $120-million Interdisciplinary Science Building, according to university news. The university partnered with HoK Architects for the project’s design, and it’s scheduled to open in time for the 2028–29 academic year.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.