Cornell’s new Fine Arts Library (FAL) is coming along. The Mui Ho Fine Arts Library will occupy the top floors of Rand Hall, a ca. 1911 structure that long housed the design studios of the Department of Architecture. My own memories of Rand were relegated to the outside, usually a small throng of architecture students getting their nicotine fix just beyond the entrance (and on a few occasions, substances more illicit).
Rand has always been the workhorse of the Architecture School and a fine example of early 20th century industrial architecture, but for the past twenty years Cornell actively made one attempt or another to get rid of it – in their attempts to build Milstein, the university proposed to tear down Rand not once, but twice. However, there was significant pushback by alumni and historic preservation groups against the idea, and it was one of the factors that weighed into the Koolhaas design for Milstein Hall, which functions as more an addition to the AAP School than a replacement.
The interior will consist of three levels of mezzanine shelving for the 125,000-volume Fine Arts Library’s collection, as well as interspersed work/study spaces. The library stacks will consist of “inverted ziggurats” accessed by stairs and walkways. Floor-to-ceiling space will range from 48 feet on the north side of the reading room to 7.5 feet in some sections of the library stacks. Long, unobstructed hallways will run the length of Rand Hall. The large variation is meant to convey both grand spaces and “private engagement” with the books. 8,000 square feet of shop space for the AAP program will occupy the first floor. Other features will include reading carrels with built-in monitors and lockable book storage, public computing stations and a seminar room. The roof will host a 1,500 square-foot structural deck, outfitted with base plates for temporary structures as well as power, water and digital connections. The semi-elliptical roof pavilion will be built at a later date.
In this renovation and expansion, Rand’s daylight-factory windows were replaces with single panes, the east stairwell was removed, and a steel canopy is going up over the roof. The building will have two entrances, one public and one for AAP only. In an attempt to limit energy use, the building utilizes rigid foam insulation, installing double-glazed windows and all mechanical systems are being replaced. Like Cornell’s other Central Campus building, Rand/FAL is tied into the Combined Heat and Power system, which uses a mix of renewable and conventional fuel (mostly natural gas) sources.
As previously covered, the architect is a Cornell alum, Vienna-based Wolfgang Tschapeller M.A. ’87. More of Tschapeller’s very avant-garde designs can be found at his website here. The project is being funded in part by a $6 million dollar donation from Cornell alumna, architect and UC-Berkeley professor Mui Ho ’62 B. Arch ’66.
The $21.6 million project is expected to be completed in June 2019, after a construction period of 18 months. Welliver is the general contractor.
Now at about the two-thirds mark, most of the new windows are in, with clips still in place for the newly installed windows on the east facade. The area of “damage” was the result of the teardown of the eastern stairwell, which was a much more recent construction and not original to the structure. The Carisle VP 705 on the roof is a self-adhering waterproof and fireproof fabric to limit moisture penetration from the aluminum panels.
Ithacating in Cornell Heights 
