Groundbreaking at Cornell Could Mark the End of 12-Year Saga
For more than a decade, Cornell University has grappled with its plan to construct a new facility for its College of Architecture, Art and Planning. On June 8, however, a backhoe began digging up dirt at the building’s proposed site—the north edge of the Arts Quad—perhaps marking the end of an epic drama that has involved a large cast of characters, a global financial crisis, and the looming threat of academic decertification.
Scheduled to open in the fall of 2011, the Paul Milstein Hall, designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), will contain studios for the architecture program, along with a 275-seat auditorium, space for juried critiques, and a gallery to be shared by all AAP departments. The two-story, 47,000 square foot building, whose design has faced a fair amount of opposition, survived the last stretch of the approval process with its Miesian box not only intact but extravagantly cantilevered.