July 19, 2002

Campus Construction Will Increase in Coming Years

Print More

By the time members of the Class of 2006 toss their caps in their air, Cornell construction projects will have transformed the campus landscape drastically.

The most visible project on campus is Duffield Hall, an addition to the engineering quad that will house research and teaching facilities for nanotechnology. Construction began last summer, and by the time the fall semester starts, the internal structure of the building will be complete.

The goal is to have the second phase of the project, the construction of an atrium connecting Phillips, Duffield and Upson Halls, finished by Commencement 2004, according to Stundtner.

“Only extraordinary good luck and efforts of the contractors will meet that goal,” he said.

Since last fall, pedestrian traffic on the engineering quad has been restricted. The area will not be fully accessible until late 2003 at the earliest, Stundtner said.

According to Stundtner, pedestrian and vehicular traffic will likely be impeded for short durations during the semester due to the construction.

“We try to be sensitive to the issue, because we’re already having such a big impact with the quad fenced off,” he said.

Besides Duffield Hall, many other projects are being planned. The Cornell University Board of Trustees decided last semester to locate the new Life Sciences building on the west end of Alumni Fields, behind Bartels Hall. The $110 million, 240,000 square-foot facility will be physically connected to Corson-Mudd Hall and the Biotechnology Building.

Richard Meier ’56 has been selected to design the building, though no architectural plans exist yet. Meier has designed such buildings as the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the High Museum in Atlanta.

“[Meier] is quite famous and quite innovative,” Kresovich said.

Since construction of the Life Sciences Technology building will destroy fields that the men’s and women’s varsity soccer teams, the women’s lacrosse team and the football and sprint football teams use, two replacement athletic fields will be built. The location of these fields has not yet been decided.

New facilities are not reserved for the sciences. The College of Architecture, Art and Planning will also receive a new building, with Milstein Hall scheduled to replace Rand Hall.

In April 2001, an independent jury of six internationally renowned architects selected Steven Holl as the architect of Milstein Hall from a group of four finalists. Many alumni objected to Holl’s design, concerned that it would clash with existing architecture on the Arts Quad. They formed a committee dedicated to changing the building’s design.

According Project Director John McKeown ’73, University officials decided this summer to replace Steven Holl as the architect of Milstein Hall.

Construction on Milstein will ideally begin next summer and be completed two years later, McKeown said.

Due to the magnitude of the change in plans, the exact location of the building is unknown. According to McKeown, Milstein Hall may be located on the site where Rand Hall currently exists or it may be built behind Sibley Hall.

Archived article by Stephanie Hankin