Architect Selected for Fine Arts Library Redesign

Architect and AAP alumnus Wolfgang Tschapeller (M.Arch. '87) has been chosen as the designer for Cornell's new Fine Arts Library (FAL), currently slated to open in fall 2016. The revamped and expanded FAL will occupy the top two floors of Rand Hall and house printed volumes, digital resources, and study spaces.

Tschapeller, whose firm maintains offices in Vienna and Belgrade, is a professor of architecture and the head of the Institute for Art and Architecture at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. His firm has gained recognition for a range of projects, including the 260,000-square-foot public administration building in Murau, Austria; the renovation of the Sigmund Freud Library at Berggasse 19 in Vienna; the 320,000-square-foot Serbian Center for the Promotion of Science; and the Austrian Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Biennial.

The New York City–based STV will serve as architect of record with two Cornellians, Harris Feinn (B.Arch. '69, M.Arch. '71) and Francesca Franchi, (M.Arch. '88), leading the team. Consultants include environmental engineers Mathias Schuler and Erik Olsen from Transsolar and library planner Olaf Eigenbrodt who consulted on the Humboldt University Library in Berlin and Asplund's Stockholm City Library, among others.

The new FAL is being made possible by a gift from Mui Ho '62 (B.Arch. '66).