Cornell University engaged Chiang O’Brien Architects to support an initiative to realign student services and administrative units within Day Hall in 2017. The primary focus of this effort focused on portions of the basement, first, and second floors. The final study recommends space reassignment or physical reorganization of several departments and groups residing in the building to optimize the functions that provide direct service to students on the second floor.

One of the primary goals of the Day Hall Space Re-alignment is to deliver exceptional customer service for the student.  A virtual portal for student services has been implemented in recent years to facilitate a seamless student experience. The hope is to align these units in their physical facilities. Initial discussions during programming interviews about shared services between the three student-facing groups were determined to not be feasible by the unit leaders, so in the end, no changes are proposed for Financial Aid or the Bursar’s offices. This study also included phasing plans and an opinion of probable cost.