In May, the Board of Trustees approved a plan that will move all freshman residences to the Freshman Quad and detriple James and Stearns Halls. The plan involves converting Williston Hall and the Pratt Geology Building into dorms, building a new geology space, razing and rebuilding James and Stearns Halls, and making changes to North and South Colleges and Appleton Hall.
Infrastructure changes made to the College this summer include the renovation of a chemistry lab, code upgrades to Stirn Auditorium, the installation of underground oil storage tanks for the steam plant, and a full renovation of Fayerweather Hall.
"Fayerweather was the primary focus this summer; however, there were a number of other projects completed," said Director of Facilities, Planning and Management Jim Brassord. "All of the projects were successful in terms of budget, schedule and meeting the design intent."
Professor of Fine Arts Nicola Courtright visited the Fayerweather Hall construction site this summer and said that she was impressed with the renovation's progress.
"Now, finally, after a long time, Fayerweather has been renovated and it's going to be spectacular," Courtright said.
Fayerweather Hall
The $11 million renovation of Fayerweather, originally scheduled to be completed by last January, is now on track to be finished by January of 2002, according to Brassord. Construction will force fine arts classes usually taught in Fayerweather to relocate for the coming semester.
The renovated Fayerweather Hall will feature expanded gallery space, a dedicated space for honors students and an elevator. Five classrooms will be added to the building, including an 80-seat auditorium that will be available to other departments.
Because the construction on Fayerweather Hall will be ongoing during the first semester, faculty have moved their offices to Cooper House and their classes to various locations in and around the College.
"Stirn [Auditorium] will be used a lot," said Courtright. "There is also a classroom in Merrill that has two slide projectors."
Drawing, social sculpture and a design seminar, the Language of Pictorial Composition, will be taught in Williston Hall. The digital photography class will be held in Seeley Mudd.
However, the College could not find space for the studio elements of some courses, according to Courtright. "We looked everywhere on campus. There was simply no space we could have a painting studio," said Courtright. Because of this, the painting class will be taught in a storefront on Triangle Avenue. While the traditional photography class will be taught in Williston Hall, it will not have access to developing equipment in Fayerweather.
"The instructor is going to come up with imaginative ways of teaching photography, one of which perhaps will be developing pictures at a commercial place," said Courtright. "The art studio faculty really used their imagination to teach without their studio."
The Freshman Quad
Once the Fayerweather renovations are complete, the next major building project that the College will undertake will be restructuring the Freshman Quad. No timetable has yet been finalized for the project, according to Dean of Students Ben Lieber.
"We are exploring schedule options with the Trustees that will be considered at the October meeting," said Brassord.
In a summer mailing to students, Lieber wrote that "no construction will take place before next summer at the earliest, and the whole set of projects is likely to take five years to complete."
In the coming months, the dormitory master planning committee will be working on a timetable for the construction, one that will need to coordinate not just the renovation of the Pratt Geology Building and the construction of the new one, but also the razing and rebuilding of James and Stearns, along with the renovation of Williston and changes to Appleton, North and South. A "swing" dorm will need to be constructed to house students who will be displaced during the construction.
"One of the major initiatives of the [dormitory master planning] committee is evaluating potential sites for a swing dorm that will initially be used to facilitate the phasing of the construction," said Brassord. "Eventually, this dorm will be used for upperclass housing."
"We'll end up putting freshmen probably into a dorm like Pratt, and moving the sophomores who would be in Pratt to the swing dorm," said Lieber.
To date, the specifications for the new geology building have not been finalized, though Brassord said that it would be located near the Merrill Science Center and would be either an integrated wing of Merrill or a freestanding structure.
Acting Treasurer Peter Shea estimates that the freshman quad renovation project, including construction of the geology building, will cost $50 million, though he cautioned that "the amount is a 'working' number intended to give an 'order of magnitude' cost estimate only, calculated based on square foot costs for similar buildings."
"Each individual project within the overall scheme will be fully costed as detailed plans are drawn up," said Shea.
Shea added that the College plans to pursue funding from the state government in the form of low-risk, tax-exempt bonds-something the College has done in the past.
"The College has the highest bond rating issued by Moody's Investors Service (triple A)," said Shea. "This rating allows the College to borrow at very attractive interest rates."
Lieber said that he will continue to seek student opinion as the building and planning process goes forward. "We will continue to have students on the dorm master planning committee, and we will be making public presentations. I plan to bring student government in and brief students by going around to the dorms. I think there is going to be extensive consultation."
After the master planning committee has finished reviewing the Freshman Quad, it plans on examining all of campus housing.
"Those discussions have begun but they're not at the stage where we have specific plans," said Lieber. "Pratt Dormitory will be the first upperclass dorm to be renovated, but we don't have a specific timetable."