Cornell University's applied sciences venture Cornell NYC Tech has garnered immense curiosity and interest among everyone who are aware of the Ivy League school's previous success.

To quench that curiosity, at least to some extent, the school has released preliminary 3D renderings of the campus to be built on the historical Roosevelt Island. The academic building is planned to be a net-zero energy building that harvests as much energy as it consumes.

According to a statement by the university, the campus is being designed to connect with the city and with Roosevelt Island via a new pedestrian walk that opens onto a series of central open spaces accessible to the public.

The design will capture views of the Manhattan and Queens skylines and link to the Southpoint and new Four Freedoms parks at the Island's southern tip.

"Just as Cornell Tech will be pioneering new approaches to graduate research and education, our campus won't look like any other university campus that exists today," said Daniel Huttenlocher, dean of Cornell Tech.

"We are determined to innovate in every aspect of the development, from the way that students, faculty, researchers, industry and the community are intermingled, to the sustainability of our buildings and their iconic architecture."

Meanwhile, the Cornell NYC Tech has entered the seven-month land use review process for the Roosevelt Island Campus.

Construction on Roosevelt Island is expected to begin in 2014, with the first phase of the campus due to open in 2017.

Current plans for Phase I include the first academic building, a corporate co-location building, an executive education centre with hotel facilities, a residential building for students, faculty, and staff, as well as more than one acre of public open space.

When completed in 2037, the campus will include up to 2.1 million square feet housing approximately 2,000 full-time graduate students.

Cornell NYC Tech is currently housed in Google's Manhattan Headquarters and got its own patent office recently.