Milstein Hall by OMA

Milstein Hall
Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan

Milstein Hall is the first new building in over 100 years for the renowned College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Rather than creating a new free- standing building Milstein Hall is an addition to the AAP buildings creating a unified complex with continuous levels of indoor and outdoor interconnected spaces.

Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan

Milstein Hall provides 47,000 additional square feet adding much-needed space for studios, gallery space, critique space and the first auditorium solely dedicated to the AAP. The existing AAP was housed in four separate buildings at the northern edge of the campus, forming the ‘back-side’ of the Arts Quad—detached from its atmosphere yet disengaged from the Falls Creek Gorge to the north. Despite the proliferation of architectural styles, the four buildings share a single typology—the linear, corridor building—segregating the AAP’s activities behind a labyrinth of security codes and dead ends.

Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan

Milstein Hall offered an opportunity to simultaneously rethink the neglected north side of the Arts Quad and provide a space where the AAP’s interdisciplinary potential could finally be exploited. Milstein Hall connects the second levels of Sibley and Rand Halls with a large horizontal plate. Typically, the box—modern architecture’s typology par excellence—stands in isolation. Here, it acts as a connector, linking Rand and Sibley and extending over University Avenue to establish an urban relationship to the Foundry.

Milstein Hall
Photo © Philippe Ruault

Released from its iconic solitude, it creates one system of buildings that are so coordinated they form a single complex. Within the box, the building provides a typology entirely absent from the campus: a vast horizontal expanse that provides 25,000 sf. of studio space and flexibility over time. Enclosed by floor-to- ceiling glass and a green roof with 41 skylights, this “upper plate” cantilevers almost 50 feet over University Avenue to establish a relationship with the Foundry, a third existing AAP facility.

Milstein Hall
Photo © Philippe Ruault

The cantilever is supported by five exposed hybrid trusses designed to balance structural efficiency and maintain open circulation within the large open plan. Lifted, the building leaves the figure-ground of the AAP campus intact. Rather than occupying the north side of campus, further obstructing the relationship to the gorge, the building facilitates an open plan. Lifted, the building leaves the figure-ground of the AAP campus intact.

Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan

Rather than occupying the north side of campus, further obstructing the relationship to the gorge, the building facilitates an open public center for the AAP. Beneath the lifted box, a half-submerged “lower plate” contains a cluster of public programs—a 253- seat auditorium, gallery space and a 5,000 sf. circular critique spaces—that serve the entire AAP.

Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan

The roof of the lower plate rises to form a dome, a single manipulation that simultaneously supports the raked auditorium seating, becomes the stairs leading up to the studio plate above, and is the artificial ground for an array of custom fabricated exterior seating pods. The materiality of the lower level, constructed of exposed cast-in-place concrete, adds a contrast to the upper plate’s glass and steel character. However both spaces create frameworks of raw spaces to serve as a pedagogical platform for the AAP to generate new interaction driven by the students’ and faculty’s ambitions and explorations.

Milstein Hall
Photo © Philippe Ruault

•Milstein Hall is the new two-story, 47,000 sq. foot (4,400 sq. meters) building for Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning in Ithaca, New York.
•Milstein Hall includes 25,000 sq. feet (2,300 sq. m) of flexible studio space which will be home to approximately 16 architectural (200 students) studios each semester.
•Milstein Hall features a 253-seat auditorium, which also includes special seating for use by Cornell University trustees, and will be the central events location for the college.

Milstein Hall
Photo © Philippe Ruault

•Milstein Hall was designed and has been constructed with the goal of achieving a LEED certification. The LEED construction application is close to being finalized with the building tracking well into Silver certification.
•Milstein Hall’s green roof is planted in sedum, and has 41 skylights to bring natural lighting into the studios.
•Milstein Hall uses Cornell University’s lake-source cooling system via chilled beams to provide air conditioning. Radiant floor tubing provides heating for the building.

Milstein Hall
Photo © Philippe Ruault

•Nearly 1,200 tons of steel are used to frame Milstein Hall and support its two cantilevers. One of the cantilevers spans 48 feet (14.6 meters) for 150 feet (45.7 meters) over University Avenue.
•Milstein Hall’s dome has nearly 5,200 sq. feet (480 sq. meters) of surface area and weighs approximately 900,00 pounds (408,000 kilograms). It was cast in a single, nearly 12-hour concrete pour. Source by OMA.

Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan
  • Location: Ithaca, New York, USA
  • Architects: OMA
  • Partners-in-Charge: Rem Koolhaas, Shohei Shigematsu
  • Associate-in-Charge: Ziad Shehab
  • Team: Jason Long, Michael Smith, Troy Schaum, Charles Berman, Amparo Casani, Noah Shepherd
  • Architect of Record: KHA Architects, LLC
  • Team: Laurence Burns AIA, Jim Bash AIA, Brandon Beal, Michael Ta, Stephen Heptig AIA, Sharon Giles AIA
  • Structural Engineer: Robert Silman Associates, P.C.
  • MEP/FP: Plus Group Consulting Engineers PLLC
  • Civil Engineer – Site Utilities: GIE Niagara Engineering Inc. P.C.
  • Civil Engineer – Site and Grading: T.G. Miller P.C.
  • Acoustical Consultant: DHV V.B.
  • Façade Design and Engineering Consultant: Front, Inc.
  • Lighting Consultant: Tillotson Design Associates, Inc.
  • Landscape Architect: Scape Landscape Architecture PLLC
  • Curtain Design: Inside Outside, Petra Blaisse
  • Roofing Consultant: BPD Roof Consulting, Inc.
  • Elevator Consultant: Persohn/Hahn Associates, Inc.
  • IT/Data/Security Consultant: Archi-Technology
  • Sustainability Consultant: BVM Engineering Models: OMA, Made by Mistake, Situ Studio
  • Audio/Visual Consultant: Acentech
  • Graphic Design: 2×4, Inc.
  • Client: Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP)
  • Year: 2016
  • Photographs: Philippe Ruault, Cornell University, Iwan Baan,  Courtesy of OMA
Milstein Hall
Photo © Philippe Ruault
Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan
Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan
Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan
Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan
Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan
Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan
Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan
Milstein Hall
Photo © Philippe Ruault
Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan
Milstein Hall
Photo © Iwan Baan
Milstein Hall
Site Plan
Milstein Hall
Section
Milstein Hall
Sustainability Diagram
Milstein Hall
Model
Milstein Hall
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Milstein Hall
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