Cornell is building a super-high-tech school that it wants to be a home for entrepreneurs in New York City — here's what it will look like

An official hub for tech and innovation in New York City is one step closer to reality. 

On Roosevelt Island, a spit of land between Manhattan and Queens, a cluster of buildings commissioned by Cornell University continues to rise. 

When the campus opens in 2017, it will provide a permanent home for an entirely new school called Cornell Tech, which city officials hope will position New York as a major tech center. Cornell beat out top-notch schools like Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford to create the new graduate school, which will be focused on classes in computer science, business, and entrepreneurialism.

The school has received $685 million in philanthropic donations, including a $100 million gift from former mayor Michael Bloomberg and $133 million from Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs and his wife Joan. 

Forest City Ratner Companies, the developer of the project, and architects Weiss Manfredi have shared updated renderings that show what the school's center for innovation will look like when complete. 

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When completed, the two-million-square-foot complex will house approximately 2,000 full-time graduate students.

The school's dorm, the tallest of the buildings in the background, is set to house 520 people. It will be the world's tallest and largest passive house, which means that it requires an extremely low amount of energy for heating and cooling.

Here's what the campus looks like in its current state of construction.