After competitively screening close to 40 of the top architecture firms in the world, the University announced Tuesday that it has selected Thom Mayne of the firm Morphosis to design the first academic building for the New York City tech campus on Roosevelt Island.

“We thought that of the firms that we saw, Morphosis and Mayne had the greatest capacity and demonstrated track record in delivering these highly expressive buildings with a very strong architecture idea,” University Architect Gilbert Delgado said.

The building — which is set to open in Fall 2017 — will serve as the premier academic building for the tech campus. In the design of this first building, the University, in conjunction with Morphosis, intends to construct a net-zero energy structure, featuring geothermal and solar power, according to the University.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg awarded the Roosevelt Island campus project to Cornell on Dec. 19, 2011.

Delgado emphasized the need for the building’s design to set the standard for the infrastructure that will follow at the engineering and applied science campus on Roosevelt Island.

“The responsibility is enormous ... this building will set the framework of future buildings and as the first building its presence in terms of its visibility,” Delgado said. “It will signify the Cornell’s presence on the Island and thats why we were so careful in selecting our architect.”

The 150,000 square-foot, academic building, which will be home to the Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute, will have teaching and faculty office space developed to facilitate interaction and the exchange of ideas between students and faculty, according to the University.

Morphosis, based in New York and Los Angeles, is expected to deliver the first design drafts in November 2012 and a schematic design in March 2013, according to a University press release. The architects will team with Arup, a New York- and Los Angeles-based engineering firm, to help develop the building.

Mayne has previously designed several noteworthy academic buildings on campuses across the country, including the Cooper Union’s 41 Cooper Square in 2009, the Caltrans District 7 headquarters in Los Angeles and the University of Cincinnati’s Campus Recreation Center in 2005, according to the University.