For nearly a decade, the University and the College of Architecture, Art and Planning have been promising architecture students a new, modern, state-of-the-art workspace. Though Cornell has employed three architects and reviewed countless building designs, architecture students are still waiting.
The story of this building dates back to the 1990s, when the Milstein family donated $10 million to AAP for the construction of a new building to replace Rand Hall. While reporting on the evolution of Milstein Hall, we at The Sun feel like we have been wading through thickets — thickets of alumni and student complaints, broken promises, three University presidents and two AAP deans as well as the construction and destruction of North and West Campus.
The Sun reported in 2001 that Milstein, then scheduled to open by fall 2004, would “eventually” house the Department of Architecture. Few had any idea how appropriate the word “eventually” was. As of now, no plans for the new facility have been finalized.
The first designer, Stephen Holl, planned to build a cube over the current site of Rand; three sides were to be glass, with metal panels on the fourth side. Many alumni of the architecture school were angered that the design was not selected by Cornellians and believed the building was inappropriate for the Arts Quad.
Though the University denied that alumni sentiment impacted their decision, the building plans were scrapped when Holl and Cornell parted ways in August 2002. The University claimed that, over a year after choosing Holl, no agreement had been reached about the building’s design or cost.
Once Holl was out of the design, AAP chose an architecture firm from Berlin named Barkow Leibinger Architects, which had an iffy tie to Cornell — co-founder Frank Barkow was an Arthur Gensler ’57 Visiting Critic from 1990 to 1992.
Barkow promised in October 2003 that all remaining design issues would be resolved by the following month. More than two years later, AAP announced that Barkow Leibinger would no longer be designing Milstein Hall. The reasons were as vague as the previous decision to remove Holl from the project.
In September, the University revealed a design by Rem Koolhaas’s Office of Metropolitan Architecture. Cornell proudly touts Koolhaas as an alumnus since he studied at Cornell from 1972 to 1973. Earlier in the year, however, there was uproar from some architecture students after Koolhaas allegedly said that he did not care about the Cornell architecture program. The design Koolhaas presented in September was recently revised and must still go through several planning stages — assuming the University doesn’t junk this architect as well.
We at The Sun hope Cornell will stop wasting time and money and focus on the true point of Milstein — giving AAP students much-needed workspace.