Cornell project is pride of City.

The Cornell University School of Hotel Administration has been honored with the 2005 Pride of Ownership Award for KSS Architects' design of the Beck Center.

The Pride of Ownership Award is co-sponsored by the City of Ithaca and the Rotary Club of Ithaca. The Awards recognize those who enhance the physical appearance and quality of life in city neighborhoods, commercial areas and public spaces.

According to the judging panel, the facility--named for Robert Beck, the second dean of the School of Hotel Administration, and his wife--was notable because it is "both shiny and transparent, it lightens the beige mass to which it is attached and makes an inviting corner, one that doesn't impose, but welcomes with a pedestrian scale, and with elegant, carefully rendered site features, such as the low brick wall and vertical lamps."

"We are pleased to have been a part of something that has impacted not only the University so positively, but also the local community," said Allan Kehrt, partner at KSS. "Projects such as this one showcase the importance of understanding the community you design in, which is something that we take pride in."

The 35,000 s/f design of the Beck Center features a lecture hall equipped to hold 140 people, case study rooms, classrooms, interview rooms for the school's on-campus recruitment program, group study rooms, informal seating areas and an expanded computer center. The project also included the complete renovation of the 19,000 s/f Alice Statler Auditorium. KSS incorporated into the design a hospitality suite to welcome visitors, a three-story entrance atrium with meeting space, a new courtyard entrance and a dramatic balcony overlook.