63rd Street pedestrian bridge wins award.

An elegant pedestrian bridge over E. 63rd St., designed by Wendy Evans Joseph, FAJA, for Rockefeller University, has won a 2001 Business Week/Architectural Record Award.

Joseph, president of Wendy Evans Joseph Architecture, was one of 11 winners from around the world cited by the magazines for good design and meeting strategic goals. The awards are sponsored by The American Institute of Architects in connection with Architectural Record and Business Week, Public and private sector projects completed anywhere in the world within the last three years were eligible to enter.

The Rockefeller University's students and faculty require access to campus during atypical hours. The pedestrian bridge. was commissioned to create a safe, direct, and pleasant entry between the university and its living. quarters. At the same time, by accommodating a new steam line under the bridge surface, the university could eliminate the need for expensive city-owned steam by connecting to steam generated internally. The same area was used to unite home and laboratory with telecommunications lines. What ultimately made this project possible was the innovative technology, architectural planning, and engineering that enabled a project estimated by a previously commissioned study to cost $6 million to be built for $1.5 million.

By cantilevering the structure across the street, instead of putting a structural support inside the residential tower, the architects economized on materials, time, and imposition on university life. While the cantilever is first a pragmatic design, the effect is quite deliberate in considering the longer views of the form from various parts of the city.