To: The Campus Community
From: Russell Osgood
Date: August 18, 2003
Re: Campus Plan Update

This is one of our comprehensive, periodic updates on a variety of construction projects and proposed projects for our campus. I welcome comments or questions.

I. Completed Facilities

A. Residence Halls

The Campus Plan recommended that we add five residence halls to be built on a new "East Campus," north of Eighth Avenue and east of the railroad tracks. Consistent with the plan, we contracted with William Rawn Associates to design residence halls for that site and we are currently building four of them. Three of the four halls are done and beginning to be occupied by students; the fourth hall will be opened at the end of September.

B. Heating/Chilling Plants and Related Infrastructure

Both the heating plant, the chilling plant, and the improved distribution lines underground throughout campus were completed last year. This enhancement will ensure that we can accommodate our current and future heating and cooling needs with substantially improved efficiency.

C. Mears Cottage and Carnegie Hall

Last year, after Mears Cottage was vacated by the Offices of Admission and Financial Aid, we completed a very successful renovation of Mears Cottage. It now houses our Departments of History and English as well as the Center for International Studies and the Office of Off-Campus Study. In addition, our FM crew has been working very hard over the last two months to renovate Carnegie Hall. The 2nd and 4th floors have been completely overhauled, the main skylight restored, and the original wood floors refinished on the first floor.

II. Authorized Facilities

A. The Joe Rosenfield Center

The College engaged Cesar Pelli and Associates to design a new campus center, to be named for Joe Rosenfield and sited at the center of campus. We are nearing the end of the design phase and we expect that construction will begin next summer and will be completed in time for the 2006-07 academic year.

The design of the Joe Rosenfield Center requires the demolition of Darby, which the Board has authorized and which will occur next June.

B. Phase II of the Noyce Science Center

We have one of the most successful science facilities in the nation. When renovated in the mid-nineties, we contemplated a second phase to further improve the spaces for the sciences. 1« years ago, the Board authorized the College to engage Holabird & Root and Research Facilities Design (the planners and designers of Phase I) to plan and design Phase II of the Noyce Science Center.

In addition to the new construction, this second phase also includes a significant upgrade of the CERA facilities and a renovation of the current 1986 Math/Psychology wing.

The program for the second phase is completed and the project is currently in the design phase. We project that the CERA renovation will begin this March, 2004 and be completed approximately 8 months later. Assuming that we meet our fundraising goals, we anticipate commencing the main Science Center construction in the summer of 2005 and the renovation of the 1986 wing in late 2006, when the main construction project will be concluded. By the end of 2007, we expect this project to be entirely completed.

C. Athletic Center

Last February, the Board authorized the College to engage Cesar Pelli and Associates and Sasaki Associates to design a new athletic center, to be sited north of Tenth Avenue. The architects worked with the on-campus committee to develop the program for this facility and have now completed the schematic design for the first phase. This first phase will include a new performance gymnasium, fitness center, auxiliary gymnasium, and locker/support spaces.

Last Friday, the Board authorized the College to commence construction of this project, which we anticipate will begin as soon as is practicable, on the site of our current outdoor tennis courts. To make way for the construction, we have already commenced the construction of new outdoor tennis courts, located across the railroad tracks from the current tennis courts. We have put the athletic center project on an accelerated schedule in order to have it completed in time for the second semester of the 2004-05 academic year.

We have also developed a plan to ensure that we can meet our athletic needs for the period when Darby Gymnasium is gone until the new performance gym becomes available.

III. Sequencing

Over the last year, we engaged in a complicated process of determining where we could relocate offices and functions that will need to move primarily as a result of the construction of the Joe Rosenfield Center and Phase II of the Noyce Science Center. For example, with the demolition of Darby, several offices and functions, such as the Office of Information Technology Services and KDIC, will need to move elsewhere. As a result of this process, we are planning to move the ITS staff remaining in Darby to three houses just south of 6th Avenue. The staff training room is moving from Darby 202 to the Mears basement. In addition, because the Office of Communication and Events moved this summer from 1233 Park to Windsor House, we will launch the "Teaching with Technology Center" in, and move the Helpdesk and the Office of College Services to, 1233 Park Street (across from Faculty House). We regard these locations for the ITS administration and functions as temporary and will need to look for a more permanent and consolidated location, hopefully on central campus, in the next few years. KDIC is projected to move temporarily into Younker Pit (until the Joe Rosenfield Center is completed).

During this summer, we moved the telephone switch and network hub to basement space in Lazier Hall, the southernmost new residence hall. We also moved the Network and Servers Team to the first floor of Lazier Hall, near the telephone switch and network servers.

Finally, to ensure that we are able to meet our parking needs in light of our new facilities, we have completed several new parking areas around campus, all consistent with the parking plans approved by the Parking Committee last spring.