The Centerbrook architects, who will draft the plans for new social and recreational facilities to meet the goals of the Trustee Initiative, met yesterday and Tuesday in the Tindle Lounge of the Thayer dining hall to introduce options to the College community.
All of the firm's student life proposals include a replacement for Webster Hall, and some of the more elaborate suggestions include connecting Robinson Hall, Thayer and the Collis Center with three-story additions.
Some schemes for a new inclusive athletic complex are as drastic as losing Memorial Field and Red Rolfe baseball stadium.
Student Life and Dining
The first day of meetings focused on student life and dining sites. Chad Floyd, a partner for Centerbrook Architects and Planners, introduced six schemes for revamping student life to the group of approximately 25. Although a handful of students attended the workshop, the audience consisted largely of administrators and staff members.
On top of the student life list of improvements is the replacement of Webster Hall, Floyd said. The new sites will also include eight new event rooms ranging in size from 20 to 300 seats.
These rooms will be designed for dance clubs, studios, graphics design studios and reading rooms among other things. The final discussion of what elements to use the space for will be determined as the site proposals are narrowed down and feedback becomes more focused.
The new concert hall would be larger than Webster Hall -- seating 1,000 rather than 800 people. One proposed site for the building is located in the former hospital lot behind the Dartmouth Medical School.
To demonstrate the site options, Floyd spread out a map featuring Thayer, Robinson, Collis and Fairbanks Hall on the floor of Tindle Lounge. Walking on the map, Floyd removed sections of buildings and set down new patterns to indicate the proposed footprints of the building sites.
Many of the plans construct additions to Thayer, Collis and Robinson, uniting the three buildings.
The most moderate proposal removes the back steps of Robinson, the one story section of Collis where the lounge is located and Thayer lobby.
In its place a new three-story section would connect Robinson and Collis with an atrium in the center, and an archway would join Robinson with Thayer. A second story would be added to the space above Homeplate, and possibly as a connection to the church next door, if that building ever went on the market.
The largest debate arose about whether centralizing student life by filing in the space between the buildings with three story additions would compromise the village-like effect that the separation currently creates.
Although three of the four proposals involve adjoining the three buildings, the fourth option was more well-received by the group.
The most popular plan involves the construction of a new student center approximately the size of the Massachusetts Row residence halls and located directly behind them.
The building would be erected over the parking lot which is currently located there. Fairbanks Hall, which contains the Tucker Foundation, would be moved, either to another site, or incorporated as part of the new building in a different orientation.
The advantage to the new site is that it does not affect the face of the Green. The new building would have the greatest impact on the area that Floyd jokingly referred to as "dead space" -- the new facility would be situated between the Massachusetts dorms and the cemetery.
Although Collis staff members raised concerns about Collis losing student center characteristics as a result of building a new facility rather than filling in the space between the three student-oriented buildings, the actual contents of the buildings themselves -- where dining halls and meeting rooms will be located -- has not yet been discussed, and that will have a large impact on the atmosphere.
A suggestion was also made to incorporate the concept of centralizing student life activities by making the three-building connection underground that Real Estate Office Director Paul Olsen referred to as the "Disney plan," and possibly relocating the Hinman Boxes to this space.
Recreation and Athletics
Yesterday Floyd discussed the options that exist for new sites and arrangements of athletic facilities to improve the sites for athletes and add fitness and social spaces for recreational users.
Before walking out onto the map, Floyd reiterated as he said Tuesday that none of the proposals were finalized. All ideas were open to change and discussion.
Floyd discussed seven proposals, four of which call for the removal of Red Rolfe baseball stadium.
The most extravagant plan eliminated both Memorial Field and the baseball stadium, creating a football field and two baseball fields in a 32-acre compound surrounded by 5000 parking spaces. The idea only exists in an abstract form, and no site has been proposed for the location of such a structure.
Floyd said he wanted to include the proposal as an idea that the Trustees should think about as a vision of athletics for the future, although the idea met with initial chuckles from the group.
Two conflicts exist in creating new athletics facilities -- deciding whether to place a swimming pool in Alumni Hall and whether the baseball stadium or the football stadium need to be relocated.
Three of the proposals keep the pool located where it is now. The other four encompass building a 50-meter competition swimming pool that would be shared by recreational users in a new building.
Two sites were prominently featured as the possible location of a new recreation oriented facility -- the corner between Alumni Gym and Davis Varsity House where five tennis courts are located and the area behind Alumni Gym where there are two sports fields.
All of the proposals involved expanding varsity athletic training space to a new facility where the East Stands sit. The new building might be modified to have its roof and top few floors oriented as stands.
The modest proposals, which did not include a new 50 lane pool, involved the development of the area under the East Stands for athletics and the area on the corner facing East Wheelock Street for recreational activities.
The more involved proposals included a new 50-meter pool, and only one of those proposals did not call for moving Red Rolfe Baseball Stadium from its current location.
Several of the proposals also relocate the the-story Davis Varsity House to other sites around Memorial Stadium.
The group showed the most approval for a plan that includes the 50-meter pool and creates four new tennis courts behind the Berry Gym, in addition to those already present, at the expense of the baseball stadium.
The advantage of the proposal was that the front faade of the athletic complex on East Wheelock Street would not be altered. Alumni Gym would remain the focal point of athletics.
Although locating recreational facilities behind Alumni Gym as opposed to using the corner close to Topliff Residence Hall means it is less accessible to students, some students suggested that the improved facilities would make up for a slightly longer walk.
All of the plans focus on a commonality of experience of athletics for athletes and recreational users by overlapping spaces such as the lobby of Alumni Gym, and preserving the atmosphere of tradition important at an Ivy League school, Floyd said.
Floyd called Alumni Gym "a jewel, a classic, handsome early 20th century gymnasium," and said the architects wanted to maintain the building as the focal point of athletics and recreation in the new proposals.
Floyd said all of the proposals attempt to make the athletics facilities "iconographic for Dartmouth ... and an expression of Dartmouth's connection with the woods and outdoors." This might mean moving the offices of the Dartmouth Outing Club to the complex and incorporating wood timbers, stone and fireplaces into the athletic facility's structure.
The Centerbrook architects will convene twice more with members of the College community before showcasing the options for student life and recreation facilities to the Board of Trustees at their November meeting.
The data collected from undergraduate and graduate students in two surveys will also be incorporated into space and arrangement needs to make the plans more suitable for Dartmouth.
Approximately half of the students on campus this summer were invited to fill out a student life and dining survey. The remaining half will receive a request to complete an athletics survey during reading period.
