As a design student I have been excited by the announcement of the glorious-looking addition to Goldwin Smith Hall and the completion of cool new buildings on campus this year such as the Human Ecology Building, the Johnson Museum addition and Milstein Hall. These buildings serve several functions. For one, they are teaching spaces. Secondly, they are places to study, research and create. Lastly, they are monuments punctuating the landscape of the Cornell campus for posterity. 

The architects of these buildings have added some good features to fulfill those first two roles, but it is the third role that concerns me. Namely, how do these new buildings fit in with a cohesive planning vision for the campus? And how could they draw upon the architectural traditions already here rather than ignore them? 

I understand that there are certain barriers to cross-departmental cooperation and restricted allocations of funding, but I think it is crucial that the various buildings on campus speak to one another. I hope the University can work with architectural firms and within their own plans to make these spaces conducive to a community culture. The new humanities building on East Avenue is a prime example of this. 

Currently, East Avenue is mainly a thoroughfare. No one dwells along this route. Part of the issue, aesthetically and functionally, is that the Arts Quad has its back turned to the street. The new atrium of GSH should address that problem. But once this is solved, East Ave will still be a series of side-by-side buildings that don’t link up together or connect visually with the buildings across the street. I urge the University to take on a city-planning approach to this important road, a core artery through campus. 

This may sound trivial, but I think that the lack of places to sit along East Avenue contributes to its role as more of a road than a meeting place. Outdoor seating, perhaps with protection from winter weather, would make the space more welcoming. Taking inspiration from the circular marble bench to the south of GSH and the circular shape of the GSH atrium, the other side of the street could respond with a curvilinear bench area outside Rockefeller, perhaps embedded into the hill. That semi-circle would visually “cradle” the atrium’s curve across the way, linking the sides of the street and making use of the empty hill. This is just one idea from a silly student, and a professional would have many more, but the point is to link the sides of the street and achieve unity. 

There are also landscaping approaches that could turn East Ave into more of a viable hanging-out, outdoor studying, and meeting area. Look no further than other examples on campus for some great inspiration. The Engineering Quad, for example, uses landscaped enclosures and human-scale flagstone bench-steps to create a community-fostering space. On the Ag Quad, the large “sod couches” in grass created by the Art of Horticulture class have been a popular and lighthearted way for people to pause, rest and use the quad, not just traipse on by. 

It’s impossible to compete with the natural landscaping of Ithaca, but the rock slab fountains with wooden benches outside Bailey Hall and rock slab seating outside Human Ecology Building are successful negotiations between the natural Ithacan geology and a designed environment. Even the roof and external stairs of Olin Library have provided an outdoor space where people congregate, smoke, talk and study. Yes, that is a success of architecture, but it is no accident that it is also a result of interaction with the rest of campus, providing a lookout onto the whole Arts Quad. Architecture can create space, not just enclose it, and this is essential for letting people in different disciplines physically interact. 

Intertwined with the discussion of outside/inside spaces is the trend towards enclosing older buildings in newer ones, creating a shell that is generally glassy and light-filled to encase the extant edifices. Examples are Physical Sciences, Duffield Hall and Human Ecology Commons. We will always look back and groan at certain architectural moments in our cultural history (cough, cough Brutalism you are so depressing and look like Darth Vader’s mask) but I think this enclosure method will be a positive design for posterity. It is simple, bold and represents respect for our predecessors while we forge forward, LEED certifications in hand. 

East Avenue already has a lot going for it: it wins the location, location, location award, it is already highly traversed and it stands at a crossroads. This crossroads could be the heart of its four corners as viewed from the new GSH atrium: the Arts Quad behind, the sciences area ahead, the AAP area to the left and the Hotel and Engineering Schools to the right. It could be a heart of campus, marked by cohesive planning and gracious interlinked spaces and a testament to the unifying power of design.