Milstein Hall Coming to AAP

Thursday February 02, 2006 Category: Campus/Architecture Permanent Link

According to this recent press release from Cornell, Cornell’s College of Architecture Art and Planning will be getting a new building designed by the firm of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas.

The release states that Koolhaas studied architecture at Cornell under O.M. Ungers from 1972 to 1973. Apparently, he did not get a Cornell degree (?) or they would be mentioned too. He is also “Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design” at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

The article is full of blustery prose in praise the firm, called Office of Modern Architecture, and virtually guranteeing that Milstein Hall “will be a contemporary architectural gem.” As for the location and cost:

The building will be near the college’s current buildings Sibley, Rand and Tjaden halls and the Foundry. Milstein Hall is expected to unify the college’s campus and allow for more interdepartmental collaborations and future growth, Dean Mostafavi said. Project costs are estimated at $34 million. Groundbreaking is expected in 2007.

The image above is an example of the firm’s work on an American campus, the Campus Center at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Read more about the architect and the firm at Wikipedia.

And let’s everyone hope that our alma mater does not build another Uris Hall!