Naming the proposed new building of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) for Paul Milstein is intended as a tribute to a major Cornell benefactor who attended New York University's College of Architecture as a young man, and then went on to transform and energize the urban landscape of New York City as an investor and real estate developer.

"Paul Milstein Hall will join that group of his favorite buildings," his son, Howard Milstein '73, said at a naming ceremony May 24. "This brings him full circle from his first studies in architecture."

The building has been designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas and the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), based in Rotterdam and New York. The estimated project costs are $40 million and, pending municipal approvals from the city of Ithaca, ground is expected to be broken in 2008.

Events honoring the Cornell benefactor were held in Sibley Hall and on the Arts Quad and were attended by Paul and Irma Milstein and several members of their family, AAP's leadership and invited alumni, and members of the Cornell Board of Trustees, as well as Dean Antonio Gotto Jr. of Weill Cornell Medical College, another beneficiary of the Milsteins' philanthropy.

The ceremony also featured comments by President David Skorton, AAP Dean Mohsen Mostafavi, and Presidents Emeriti Hunter R. Rawlings and Frank H.T. Rhodes.

"Paul Milstein Hall is a building that will really establish collaboration across the whole college, among architects, planners and artists, and also landscape architects," Mostafavi said.

He pointed out some of the features of the new building in OMA's large-scale model, on display for the occasion in John Hartell Gallery, including its environmentally sustainable green roof and its physical link between Rand and Sibley Halls. He also noted that Howard Milstein's input was an invaluable help throughout the design process.

"Howard, you have shown us that only the best will do," Mostafavi said. "He's a tough critic," he told the audience.

Many of the speakers noted the "long-awaited" status of the Milstein Hall project, which has gone through three architectural schemes including the OMA plan.

Irma Milstein -- who has seen six of her family members go to Cornell and has two more grandchildren entering in the fall -- committed $10 million to the university for the building in 1999.

"This is their vision, long-postponed," Rhodes said. "Daniel Burnham [the architect who planned the rebuilding of Chicago following its infamous 1871 fire] said, 'make no small plans, for they will not stir men's blood.' This is no small plan."

Paul Milstein has a history of thinking big. He helped his father's business, Circle Floor Co., become the largest of its kind in the country, and went on to build large-scale developments, such as Dorchester Towers, that revived run-down neighborhoods throughout New York City.

"Paul is a visionary entrepreneur and philanthropist for this university, other universities and institutions throughout New York," said Rawlings. He went on to thank "the entire Milstein family for their extraordinary patience and tenacity and fortitude" in seeing the Milstein Hall process through to its current stage. "The Milsteins have been positive forces for change for this institution," he added.

Howard Milstein, an emeritus trustee and presidential councillor, cited his father's "warm and gregarious personality" as a key to his success. "He loves talking to people, people like presidents of the United States and presidents of foreign countries, all the way to the newest employee in one of our buildings. He would talk to waitresses and cabbies. He believed that the best way to learn about a situation was by talking to everybody, and he developed a worldview that really was a step ahead of others."

Skorton listed several of Paul Milstein's accomplishments and some of the family's notable contributions to Cornell. "These gifts speak to our most important needs," he said. "The family has earned a very esteemed place and a strong place in our hearts."

The new building, he said, will be a "spectacular addition to the campus, heralding a new era for the College of Architecture, Art and Planning and adding to the built environment."