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Northwest Corner Building

2011-08-16T20:48:23Z

Deadlierchair:

[[Image:NWSRenderingFromCEPS.jpg|thumb|300px|Plan: a rendering of the Northwest Science Building looks sinister but contextual, blending the gray of the new structure with a grayed trim on Pupin to make it look as if it fits in well]]

[[Image:Moneo.jpg|thumb|300px|Reality: Moneo and what has metamorphosized into a bluish, glassy monstrosity both attempt to tower over poor, increasingly antiquarian [[Pupin]]]]

The '''Northwest Corner Building''' (known previously as the '''Interdisciplinary Science Building''', and '''Northwest Science Building''' before that) has been destined by Columbia to fill the last remaining plot on the upper [[Morningside Heights campus]]. It was built over the [[Levien Gym]], between [[Pupin Hall]] and the [[Havemeyer Hall|Havemeyer]] extension ([[Chandler Hall]]), as well as the last undeveloped portion of [[The Grove|the Grove]] just north of Levien and west of Pupin. The project started on 19 March [[2007]] and first occupancy began in [[2009]].

== Building description ==

The building is on the southeast corner of Broadway and 120th St, opposite [[Barnard College|Barnard]]'s [[Nexus]]. It is considerably taller than neighboring [[Pupin Hall|Pupin]] and [[Chandler Hall|Chandler]] Halls, though it still connects to them via pedestrian bridges at multiple levels, similar to those connecting [[Pupin Hall|Pupin]], [[CEPSR]], and [[Seeley Mudd Hall|Mudd]].

The 188,000 square foot building features a campus lobby, science library, lecture hall, several classrooms, faculty and administrative offices, and 7 floors of science and engineering laboratories. The street level floors are tentatively being reserved for a 120th St. lobby, lounge, [[on-campus dining locations|dining location]] with access to the street, and possibly an entrance to the gym.

== Design ==

The lead architect is José Rafael Moneo, selected by [[Bollinger]] for his "extreme sensitivity to context". To that end, Moneo designed a building shorter than would have been allowed at the site and hid mechanicals that would have otherwise been stored on the roof.

The Northwest Corner Building is being designed by Moneo along with New York-based Davis Brody Bond with hope that it will attain a high rating from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.

The building announces a departure from the Mckim, Mead and White architecture that dominates many of the original campus building, and which served as the master plan for the campus since 1896. It does not, however, operate as a quick-fix in the architectural vein of Uris, Mudd or even CEPSR that lacked a significant architectural statement in hopes of placating a need for space.

A significant hurdle in the design was attempting not to interrupt with Levien Gym. As noted in a recent article[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/nyregion/15columbia.html] in the [[New York Times]], the design consists of "three enormous parallel trusses in the lower part of the building. These take the weight of the laboratories, classrooms and offices above and distribute the load — almost as a tabletop would — to columns that flank, but do not penetrate, the basketball court.

This approach has created a column-free space directly under the trusses, which will be occupied by the library. The room will be almost transparent, with window walls overlooking the campus and Broadway. “For the first time, actual academic life will be visible from the street,” said Mark Wigley, dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Diagonal elements in the truss work and other structural bracing will be expressed clearly on the facade, giving the building its overall character.

In other words, it will not look like the red-brick buildings that have predominated since McKim, Mead & White drew up the master plan in the 1890s. But with so much steel in the science building, any brickwork would merely have been a thin cladding.

“When the brick is only a veneer,” Mr. Moneo said, “I don’t feel comfortable working with it.”"

==Construction challenges==

Bollinger also stipulated that the building show a commitment to embracing interdisciplinary science. In this vein, the building will be insulated to reduce the impact of vibrations from the [[subway]] on the laboratory spaces.

The greatest challenge facing the building's construction was the mandate it be built atop the school's underground gym, with no interruption in the gym's usability. In the 1970s, when [[Dodge Fitness Center]] was built, the [[Levien Gym]] was fitted with 4 super-columns at its corners, which would allow a building to be constructed above it without pesky additional columns. The Northwest Science Building was constructed on these super-columns, thus placing no weight on the Levien Gym roof, allowing it to remain open. Nevertheless, Moneo still had to employ truss construction to keep the building "floating" over the gym rather than resting on top of it, ensuring the basketball season could continue through construction.

== History of the site ==

The Northwest Science Building was the source of the [[Athletics Facilities Scandal]]. In the early 1990s, the [[Athletics Department]] proposed an extension of Dodge for the site that would hold a teaching swimming pool, racquetball courts, and an international squash court. When the [[Athletics Director]] at the time, [[John Reeves]], was unable to raise any money for construction, it was decided to use the site for a science building with a few floors for athletics. But when President Bollinger took office, Reeves's boss, [[Provost]] [[Jonathan Cole]], "forgot" to tell PrezBo about the the plans. Cole decided to build a science-only building instead, without informing Reeves of the change in plan. Reeves found out when the Spectator broke the news about the building in 2004.

== Building Name ==

When news of the building broke in [[2004]], the project was referred to as the Northwest Science Building. Shortly thereafter Interdisciplinary Science Building was adopted as the name for the project in order to reflect the building's purpose and function. However, in Fall [[2009]] the school renamed the project yet again to Northwest Corner Building, "in the hopes of attracting a wider array of donors."

== See also ==

* [http://www.bwog.net/index.php?page=post&article_id=3340 Reactions on The Bwog]
* [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/senate/annual_reports/06-07/PDannual.htm February 23, 2007 statement from the Senate's physical development committee]
* [http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/09/17/after-name-confusion-northwest-corner-building-construction-proceeds-schedule After name confusion, Northwest Corner Building construction proceeds on schedule]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/arts/design/13moneo.html NYT article on the challenges of the building's construction]
* [http://www.archpaper.com/e-board_rev.asp?News_ID=3545&PagePosition=5 In Detail: Columbia U.'s Northwest Corner Building], The Architect's Newspaper, 3 June 2009
* [http://blip.tv/file/4489804 Construction Timelapse Video], February 2008 - August 2010
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/arts/design/09moneo.html?src=dayp Glowing NYT Review of the Completed Building] - Feb 2011
* [http://facilities.columbia.edu/node/1328/1331 Current Construction Projects] - Aug 2011

[[Category:Buildings on the Morningside Heights campus]]
[[Category:Planned buildings]]
[[Category:Unnamed buildings]]

File sharing

2007-07-19T19:41:33Z

Deadlierchair: /* Bandwidth limitations */ KBps is kilobytes per second, kbps is kilobits

'''File sharing''' is as ubiquitous at Columbia as almost any other university. File sharing of copyrighted content is illegal. However, you are of course allowed to share copyright-free content.

== File sharing methods ==

=== P2P programs ===
File sharing kicked off through computer programs like Napster and Kazaa. These were either shut down or became clogged up with falsely named files. Many students then turned to DC++, but this was shut down by [[AcIS]]. After that, people turned to i2hub, which was based on the DC++ protocol. The i2hub network ran on the high-speed Abilene Network, which was created by the Internet2 consortium. This also restricted the network to university students and therefore there were few falsely named files. The most popular P2P program is now Limewire.

=== BitTorrent ===
BitTorrent is a revolutionary file sharing protocol whereby files are split into much smaller components. All the users sharing a file collaborate to share these components as rapidly as possible. This makes BitTorrent an excellent way to rapidly download movies, music, and other large file-size content. When sharing a file using BitTorrent, the user's IP address is visible to all the other users sharing that file. Many students get caught violating copyrights when an organization acting on behalf of the RIAA or MPAA connects to the file and makes a note of all the IP addresses.

=== Ruckus ===
Columbia.edu [[email]] address holders are able to use [http://www.ruckus.com/ Ruckus] to download a large selection of copyrighted files perfectly legitimately. However, the selection of songs isn't rather limited. Ruckus only works on Windows computers, not Macs. And there are heavy DRM restrictions. For example, you can't play Ruckus files on your portable audio device.

=== Other file acquisition methods ===
These methods do not involve uploading files and are therefore not file sharing methods. That said, even just downloading copyrighted files is illegal. The only difference is that it's harder to trace and harder to prosecute.
* [http://www.g2p.org/ G2P Beta: Using Google to locate MP3s]
* [http://www.alluc.org/ AllUC]

== Bandwidth limitations ==
Almost every node on the Columbia network is restricted to downloading 350 megabytes per hour and uploading 180 megabytes per hour. Typically a movie takes 2.5 hours to download going at maximum speed on the Columbia network. Users who exceed the above limits are restricted to a severely throttled bandwidth for between 20 minutes and 4 hours depending on how much they went over the limits. The throttled bandwidth is extremely slow; only fast enough for slowly surfing basic web pages. Thus, if you plan to download a large file, you may want to limit your download speed to 97 KBps and your upload speed to 44 KBps.

== Legal risks ==

=== RIAA legal action ===
The Recording Industry Association of America is the main threat to students who download MP3s. It typically targets students who have violated many copyrights. Before issuing a lawsuit, the RIAA sometimes allows students to settle for a payment between $3,500 and $5,000.

=== MPAA legal action ===
The Motion Picture Association of America takes a more graduated approach than the RIAA. It will issue notices under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to file sharers who have violated a small number of copyrights. It will then issue a second notice, and only after that will it take legal action.

=== Detection ===
Organizations like the RIAA and MPAA hire specialized detection firms to track down students who illegally upload and download files. Such firms log on to file sharing networks and BitTorrent, and connect to users on these networks to obtain their IP addresses.

The firm then sends letters to Columbia to forward to the violating IP addresses. IP addresses on the Columbia residence halls network are static and can be tied to a particular user (except for the public network jacks). CUIT is therefore able to identify the user and pass on the letter.

If the user was logged on in a [[computer lab]], CUIT compares the IP to a time log and can therefore still identify the particular user.

=== Avoiding detection ===
Some file sharers try to avoid detection by connecting to file-sharing networks via a proxy, like the big Swedish one that costs something like $10 per year. Such a proxy hides their IP address behind the proxy's network.

Some file sharers also avoid detection on the Columbia [[wifi]] network by changing or "spoofing" their MAC address once their previous MAC address has been identified as violating copyright.<ref>http://www.klcconsulting.net/change_mac_w2k.htm</ref> It is unclear whether this is legal. However, students who do it generally don't care because there is no easy way for CUIT to learn whether your MAC address is genuine or spoofed.

Others use public network jacks in the libraries and classrooms. These cannot be traced to individual users.

=== Columbia policy ===
Columbia blocks file sharers from accessing its network upon receiving a notice from the RIAA or MPAA. Students are generally able to reactivate their network access upon affirming that they do not hold any content in violation of copyrights, and that they promise not to illegally share files in the future. Columbia does not monitor this promise. If Columbia receives a second notice from the RIAA or MPAA, the student's internet access may be permanently disabled, and the student is subjected to [[Dean's Discipline]].

== Effects on Columbia students ==
* Columbia gets a few hundred DMCA notices per year.
* The RIAA has so far sued 47 Columbia file sharers, of whom 39 settled out of court.
* 39 of the 47 lawsuits arose from RIAA targetting of i2hub.
* On Wednesday 21 March 2007, a further 20 students were issued threats of lawsuits by the RIAA unless they settle.
* Some students have formed a club called [[Free Culture at Columbia]] to protest against copyright and the RIAA and MPAA's legal actions.

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==

[[Category:IT]]