Squeals of delight echoed through Milstein Hall on Wednesday as architecture students first beheld their new studios, located on the second floor of the recently-opened building.

Students flocked to the drawing tables, which are designated specifically for the program’s upperclass and graduate students. However, the studio also features rendering stations, printers and an area for critiques, which are open to all architecture students.

For many of the fourth and fifth year students, the opening of this space represents the fulfillment of promises made to them many years ago.

“It’s nice to see the project come to fruition,” Ryland Danderta ’12 said, “This is what they were selling us on when I was a freshman ... It’s nice to finally have in our fifth year here — better late than never.”

Others added that the layout and design of the studio spaces responded to the need for more social interaction and collaboration among architecture students.

“They’re really trying to build this new kind of studio dynamic where everyone meshes together and has more of a social interaction,” Chris Ryan ’12 said. “Before it was very episodic, and people had really no intermingling in the studio at all.”

Foosball and ping pong tables will be included in the space to encourage breaks on long nights in the studio, he added.

Although first and second year students will continue working in Rand Hall — the former location of all of the architecture studios — many noted that the opening of the building marked an improvement in morale across the department.

“Not only is this going to be our new home, but everyone has a new attitude,” Ben Waters ’14 said. “Everyone has this new-found sense of pride for the program.”

According to Prof. Mark Cruvellier, architecture, the design elements of the building foster a greater sense of unity within the College of Architecture, Art and Planning.

“We have a couple of buildings here on campus that were always divided, and we’d always have to run back and forth in the middle of winter,” Cruvellier said. “Here, we have a building that not only connects Rand Hall and Sibley Hall together, but one that also embodies architecture and design ideas.“

Milstein Hall — which has been under construction since August 2009 — is the newest addition to Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning. Construction is set to finish around mid-October with the completion of the building’s auditorium.