MOUNT VERNON — A Des Moines firm honored Nov. 30 with the highest award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has designed several renovation projects at Cornell College, including the Law Hall Technology Center that opened this year.
Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck Architecture was chosen Thursday for the 2001 AIA Architecture Firm award by the professional organization’s national board of directors. The firm was recognized for producing consistently distinguished architecture for at least 10 years. Previous recipients include I.M. Pei & Partners (now Pei, Cobb, Free & Partners), of New York; Cesar Pelli & Associates, of New Haven, Conn.; Skidmore Owings and Merrill, of Chicago; and Gensler, of San Francisco, in 2000.
Partner Rod Kruse has been principal in charge on several projects at Cornell including the 1995 renovation of Cole Library, the 1994 redesign of the Rathskeller snack bar in The Commons, the 1997 renovations to Bowman-Carter Residence Hall and the recent renovation of Law Hall, a 1925 building that originally housed the departments of geology, biology and physics. After a $6.4 million conversion, Law Hall reopened in August as a technology center housing the departments of computer science, mathematics and psychology; the offices of institutional research and computing services; and the campus network servers and telephone system.
Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck Architecture will design Cornell’s fine arts project, with construction scheduled to begin in spring 2001. Alumni Hall, built in 1909 as the college’s first gymnasium, will be converted for the visual arts; Armstrong Hall, built in 1938 for the fine arts, will be redesigned for the music and theater departments.