A group of architects met with students, administrators and Hanover residents in the Tindle Lounge of the Thayer Dining Hall yesterday and Wednesday to further discuss possible changes to dining, athletic and social spaces at the College.
Centerbrook Architects and Planners, the firm that is spearheading the project in light of the Trustees' Social and Residential Life Initiative, is looking at spaces in Thayer, Collis, Robinson and perhaps Fairbanks Halls for possible renovation.
This week's meetings are part of a continuing effort to gather opinions on potential changes.
Centerbrook has conducted small workshops with students to ascertain what sorts of dining and social space options are desired. "We are still in the gathering phase, moving towards the synthesis phase where we will add our own ideas," said Chad Floyd, a partner at Centerbrook and the head of the project.
Floyd said Centerbrook is in the middle phase of understanding the facilities.
It will send out a survey to students in the middle of July, and by August it will think of specific physical proposals to accompany the ideas it has gathered. In the fall it will present its proposals to the Board of Trustees and College President James Wright.
Floyd said the architects are currently "not limiting their thinking at all."
"We are not leaping to solutions. We are trying to assess the students' needs," Floyd said.
Dining Spaces
The Centerbrook team said the spaces in Thayer are inadequate for the range of services that Dartmouth Dining Services offers, because it was not designed for the current cafeteria style of service. This situation was caused by the change from family to cafeteria style dining in the 1950s and 1960s.
The team's findings show that students are largely in favor of retaining centralized dining but have perceived a need for one or more smaller facilities on the north side of campus.
Students have also indicated that they are interested in smaller, more intimate spaces, as well as late-night dining options such as a pizza parlor, or a "cyber cafe."
Tom Leatherbee '01 said, "We don't necessarily need a cyber cafe theme - just don't build any more dining halls without Ethernet ports."
Other dining space issues included a need for kosher dining, as well as the need for reusable dishes and utensils, as opposed to the disposable items used in the Collis Cafe.
The group also hopes to make serving space in the dining halls proportional to the amount of seating in order to create more room to serve food. Additionally, the team noted that for a convenience store, Topside is "inconvenient."
Social Spaces
The Centerbrook group said student feedback on Collis is generally positive. Students like the building's front porch, fireplaces and small tables.
It said the building's food service however, is problematic. The servery is crowded, it does not have enough support space, and there are problems with the infrastructure.
The Centerbrook group acknowledged that students would like to use the space in Collis Commonground more effectively, but there are no definite plans for changes.
Floyd had the most criticism for Robinson Hall, which he described as "very handsome, but it doesn't open out to you. The building is very closed in nature. People who aren't in the clubs housed in Robinson don't go in."
Floyd suggested placing more office space in Robinson, perhaps by shrinking current space allocations.
The money originally donated by Wallace F. Robinson to the College for the creation of Robinson Hall was given with the stipulation that the College would use the building solely for non-athletic student organizations. Adding different spaces for any types of offices other than those meant for student organizations would be done only in violation of Robinson's wishes.
`His idea drew criticism from several students attending the meeting. David Gacioch '00 said Robinson at night is often a different and more bustling place than during the day and that the student organizations located there need their space.
New ideas for additions to social space include a large performance space to replace the space lost when Webster Hall was converted to the Rauner Special Collections Library. Other ideas are meeting rooms attached to a kitchen, a movie theater, bowling alleys, increased student organization space, music practice rooms, an all-night snack bar, lounges, a student gallery and study spots.
Athletic and Recreation Facilities
At yesterday's meeting athletic development was discussed by both those in a core focus group, as well as others who attended. About 15 students along with Physical Education and Athletics staff were present.
Floyd, along with Brad Noyse of Brailsford & Dunlavey, led the discussion, which centered on renovation of existing facilities and expanded spaces for intercollegiate athletics, as well as recreation and physical education.
Floyd said Alumni Gym, which dates back to 1911, "is at a point in its life where it needs significant renewal." Due to high humidity from the pool, some floors are rippling, and the underlying effects on the facility's structure are unknown.
Participants also discussed the balance of needs between Division I NCAA Sports and on-campus recreation of all students and staff.
Floyd said one concern is that a large, centralized athletic facility could be intimidating to novice and recreational users. Coupled with this is the fear that purely recreational spaces could be overrun by intercollegiate sports.
One potential outcome would be a centralized and shared facility, encompassing Outdoor Programs, recreation and athletics, allowing for redevelopment of Robinson Hall. Noyse and Floyd, along with other staffers, said such plans would depend on future discussions with Outdoor Programs, the Ski Team and the Dartmouth Outing Club.
Such a change would allow for shared workshops such as a self-service bicycle, ski or snowboard repair and a gear store, with possible partnerships through local businesses.
Noyse said Dartmouth is unique, being both the smallest and most undergraduate-oriented college in the Ivy League and competing in Division I, while resembling a Division III school on paper. Noyse said, "There is no vibrant center of campus life - no hub," referring to the spread out and diverse collection of social and athletic facilities.
Noyse and Floyd said because Harvard, Yale and Princeton Universities have added, expanded or renovated athletic facilities in recent years, Dartmouth's offerings have failed to keep pace, and many are not well suited to current demand. This sentiment was echoed by participants at the meeting.
Much of the first half of the meeting was spent discussing facilities, such as development of fields behind Thompson Arena, or a closer relocation or upgrade of the Lyme Road non-varsity practice fields. Deputy Athletic Director Bob Ceplikas said, "Athletic field experts have told us that we don't have athletic fields, we have lawns."
Participants at the meeting also discussed a lack of adequate heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, combined with small workout rooms and facilities. Students cited close quarters and lack of ventilation as motives for avoiding the athletic facilities, especially during the summer.
"When you look at Kresge, it's so small that people don't want to go in," Chiara Grabill '01 said. Other issues brought up by the consultants included more office space, locker rooms, activity space and aquatic facilities, which are currently considered obsolete and overused.
The attendees spent the second half of the meeting discussing athletic options such as a new squash courts, meeting rooms for team instruction, support space and a new Hall of Fame. They also talked about concessions and tickets, which could be sold for a lower price to students and be available at a standardized box office to be shared by all campus activities.
Ideas about recreation included ideas such as a climbing wall, a juice bar/sports bar, table tennis, bowling alley, expansion of indoor and outdoor basketball, multipurpose spaces for aerobics, dance or martial arts, with spring-loaded floors, hot tubs, and other ideas that will be compressed into a final draft.
