Buildings revamped for new school year
This year, the summer months were especially eventful for the Physical Plant Department (PPD), as staff addressed a costly incident in Pierce Residence Hall and completed several other planned renovations across campus, among other projects.
When a summer guest accidentally damaged a Pierce sprinkler head, severe flooding occurred on three floors, necessitating emergency renovations. The residence hall had been refurbished in 2008. PPD called in contractors to drain the water and to remove all carpet and interior furnishings to prevent mildew. “The building was basically stripped down to the bare floors, and you could see the cinderblocks it was made out of,” Director of the Physical Plant Patricia Whitney said. The cost of repairing the residence hall was $400,000.
Also on Roberts Row, Treworgy Residence Hall, one of the oldest and smallest dorms on campus, was renovated in time for first-year orientation in August. “I love the new Trewg,” Treworgy Community Advisor (CA) Melanie Brown ’13 said. “I feel like it’s now a place where students actually want to spend time. It’s so nice to see residents lounging in the common rooms and stopping to chat in the halls, rather than just trying to leave the dorm as soon as possible.” The $2.8 million project followed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, a nationally recognized rating system that verifies and rewards environmentally safe practices in building projects.
The College adheres to values of sustainable living in its building projects and accordingly recycles construction waste, installs recycling stations in buildings and uses building materials with a high percentage of recycled content that are manufactured within 500 miles. The College is waiting for LEED approval on Treworgy and Goddard-Hodgkins Residence Hall, and has already received gold and silver certifications in previous years for the Diamond Building, the Pulver Pavilion, the bookstore, the Schair Swenson Watson Alumni Building and Pierce and Perkins-Wilson Residence Halls.
“Our goal is to be certified at least LEED silver in all of our new projects on campus,” Whitney said. This includes the current renovation of the Colby Museum of Art, the expansion of the art department and the construction of the new biomass plant. The biomass plant will be producing steam in six to eight weeks, and 90 percent of fuel will come from wood by January.
Aside from a revamped Treworgy, students may have noticed changes in the Anthony-Mitchell-Schupf (AMS) and Grossman Residence Halls, where lounge spaces have been converted into additional student rooms in order to avoid a bed shortage on campus. The College also received state funding to re-tar Campus Drive.
“The thing about these Roberts Row renovations is that you lose beds as you go,” Whitney explained. “Since Campus Life and PPD are working to up the standards of buildings on campus, we are reevaluating living spaces. There should be at least between 90 and 100 square feet per student, for example, and this standard has turned some previous triples into doubles, causing us to lose beds.”
Anthony and Mitchell have both lost lounge space and gained a single, a double and a triple on their first floors. “AMS was the best choice for additional beds because it had the lowest number of students per bathroom, and there is still a very large common area in the Schupf wing of the building,” Whitney said.
The new rooms on the first floor of Grossman are provisional. Upon completion of the new computer science and psychology building in 2014, Roberts Union will be renovated and converted into a residence hall, and administrative offices will be moved into Grossman.
Dana dining hall also underwent structural changes this summer. A few days before first-year orientation began in late August, the dining hall re-opened to welcome students and staff into a brighter, more open and completely remodeled space.
“It all started with a request from dining services,” Whitney said. “They wanted to better respond to student requests and have a more open space. Both Roberts and Foss dining halls had also been renovated in recent years, so it really was Dana’s turn, since these things always happen in cycles.” The food stations have been reorganized, and the entrance and the exit areas have been separated in order to allow for better student traffic flow through the doors.
“When I first walked in, I felt like I was walking into God’s kitchen—everything is so clean and organized!” Dhokela Yzeiraj ’13 said. “I also like that they chose to use a circular set up for food stations—it suggests more of a communal unity in contrast to the squared off table corners from last year.”
Piper and Drummond Residence Halls are next in line for renovation, and will be modernized according to LEED standards in 2013. “It’s a never ending cycle,” Whitney said. “By the time you’ve finished work on one building, it’s time to move on to the next!”