Cornell University is undergoing a campaign to improve its academic facilities. As part of that initiative, the university has transformed Rand Hall into the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning’s permanent research library. STV served as the architect of record and building engineer for the $16.9 million Mui Ho Fine Arts Library project, which renovated and expanded the venerable brick building into a 21st century fine arts library designed to meet LEED Gold certification requirements.

The conceptual plan, developed by renowned architect Wolfgang Tschapeller, inserted four vertically stacked mezzanines into the existing volume of the building, suspended from a new roof structure. In contrast to the strict compartmentalization of traditional libraries, the library collection is suspended within a 40-foot-tall atrium with four floors of completely open book stacks containing more than 100,000 volumes. With semi-transparent floors made of steel grating and an absence of walls within the stacks, full sight lines are created from one end of the atrium to the other.