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By Neall Digert, Ph.D., MIES ��

Developing athletic facilities in dense, urban environments can present a unique set of challenges. While these types of projects are often constrained by surrounding development and environmental barriers, design teams are still expected to deliver safe, high-performance spaces that support rigorous activities. At the same time, designs must anticipate the realities of climate change by embedding resilience and sustainability at every level.��

Columbia University’s Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center stands as a model of resilient design, demonstrating how to successfully overcome these challenges. Perched on the northern tip of Manhattan between the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, the state-of-the-art facility employs a vertical building strategy, advanced daylighting solutions and flood-resilient design concepts to create one of the most forward-thinking collegiate athletic centers in the country.����

This project also reflects broader industry trends: . With showing that 88% of metropolitan areas gained population between 2023 and 2024, and the projecting increasingly severe storms from climate change, the importance of space-conscious, adaptive design will only continue to rise.��

Meeting the Urban Challenge��

When Perkins&Will set out to design the Milstein Family Tennis Center, the firm faced the dual challenge of replacing an aging structure within Columbia University’s Baker Athletics Complex while also reflecting the institution’s commitment to resilient, high-performance design. Given the site’s proximity to two major waterways in one of the nation’s most densely populated areas, the project required a facility that met NCAA standards with six indoor and six outdoor courts, plus training areas, locker rooms and social spaces.��

Adding to the complexity, the building had to maintain strong visual and physical connections to the surrounding park and waterfront, despite the site’s vulnerability to flooding.��

“The motto for this project was fitness for all, and our team needed to create both a functional athletic facility and a community space within a constrained footprint, on land that has narrowly escaped severe flooding in the past and faces ongoing risk in the future,” said Stephen Sefton, Design Director, Principal, Perkins&Will.��

Building Up, Not Out��

To surmount the site’s restrictions, the design team implemented a vertical building strategy: elevating six indoor courts above the 100-year floodplain surrounded by resilient support areas with six more courts stacked above on the roof, with six more on the roof. This tiered design supported spatial and functional needs without compromising the surrounding landscape.������

By building vertically, Perkins&Will was able to incorporate social gathering areas and training amenities while also creating opportunities for more strategic integration of daylighting features and view corridors.��

Harnessing Natural Daylight��

Daylighting was a central design driver for the Milstein Family Tennis Center. To enhance visibility, comfort and energy efficiency, the design team specified Kingspan Light + Air’s with Verti-Lite grid pattern and integrated windows for the indoor courts. The translucent panels allow for abundant, diffused natural daylight while minimizing glare and thermal hotspots, key factors in .����

“Natural daylight was essential for this project, not only to reduce reliance on electric lighting, but to create an environment where athletes can perform at their best,” Sefton continued. “The UniGrid system gave us the ability to balance soft, even daylight with clear sightlines, ensuring the space feels bright, comfortable and connected to its surroundings.”��

Research continues to validate these benefits. from the Lighting Research Center demonstrate that exposure to daylight influences serotonin levels and alertness, helping reduce fatigue and sharpen cognitive performance, critical in high-intensity environments such as athletic training and competition. Similarly, a peer-reviewed published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that workers with greater exposure to daylight reported higher vitality, better sleep quality and longer rest duration than those in windowless spaces. In athletic facilities, these findings reinforce the role of daylighting as a performance strategy, supporting sharper concentration, faster reaction times and improved overall well-being.��

Framed windows integrated into the translucent wall system build on this approach by introducing curated views of the Hudson and Harlem rivers. The façade’s vertical rhythm of metal fins and white cladding references Manhattan’s maritime and industrial heritage while delivering a clean, contemporary aesthetic.��

Read the full article, including more on designing for resilience and efficiency, in the .

Neall Digert, Ph.D., MIES, is Vice President, Innovation and Market Development, for Kingspan Light + Air North America.��

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Locally based Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with locally based Gensler as executive architect designed the 100,000-square-foot, 14-story glass tower. It features technologically advanced classrooms, collaboration spaces and a modern simulation center that reflects the latest advancements in medical education. Construction began in September 2013.

“We are training the doctors who will deliver medical care, the scientists who will perform groundbreaking scientific research and the teachers who will help train the future generation of physicians and scientists. It is important that their educational facilities are as exciting as medical science is today,” said Dr. Roy Vagelos in a statement. Dr. Vagelos, together with his wife, Diana Vagelos, made the initial contribution to help fund the new facility.

While the building incorporates all the high-tech bells and whistles one might expect in an Ivy League school, its defining feature is the Study Cascade. The 14-story “cascade” vertically links collaborative spaces in a variety of sizes, both focused and social, private and communal, inside and out, said Elizabeth Diller, founding partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro in a statement. Even more, the linked spaces are exposed to the outside, featuring floor-to-ceiling windows that open out onto south-facing outdoor spaces and terraces.

Other key highlights include the advanced clinical simulation center that features a specialized space for mock-examination rooms, clinics and operating rooms. There is also a 275-seat multipurpose auditorium, a ground-floor lobby and cafe, a Student Commons and an Anatomy Quad, with flexible learning space that features integrated screens and task lighting. The building’s “Academic Neighborhoods” (or groups of classrooms) can be configured to meet student needs with operable partitions, drop-down screens and large-scale touch screens, suspended ceilings and distributed power and data at the floor.

While its interior features high-tech learning spaces, the building also has a strong connection to the outside, touting views of the Hudson River and the Palisades. It also integrates sustainable features such as locally sourced materials, green-roof technologies and a mechanical system that minimizes energy and water use. The building’s facade even incorporates ceramic “frit” patterns baked onto the exterior glass to diffuse sunlight, according to a statement. All of these factors will help CUMC reach its goal of minimizing its carbon footprint and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2025.

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