The summer will be a busy time for dormitory renovations and improvements as the College prepares to begin or complete work on at least three clusters.
The Ripley/Woodward/Smith Cluster will receive the most major facelifts this summer, as part of the Office of Residential Life's twelve year plan to update and maintain housing.
The Choates Cluster was originally scheduled for renovation this summer but the Student Life Initiative and the ensuing uncertainty of the cluster's future caused RipWoodSmith to be moved up for construction instead.
The renovations cost several million dollars and it did not make sense to spend that on buildings that might be torn down -- such as the Choates -- in a couple of years, Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said.
The renovations include safety issues, such as upgrading fire alarms and sprinkler systems as well as repainting and carpeting the cluster. In addition, all of the bathrooms will be gutted and redone. The cluster will also be made handicapped accessible.
The renovation also includes less obvious projects such as installation of new plumbing.
Redman said the renovations were part of a long-term plan, begun four years ago, to repair the College's dorms, as well as to help them meet new building and fire codes.
"We have to maintain the buildings to live forever," Redman said.
In addition, the rooms at the ends of the fourth floor of Woodward will be rebuilt as quads in suite style with private full-baths. The rooms are currently two-room doubles and one used by a Graduate Advisor.
The new East Wheelock building, McCulloch, will also be completed sometime in July and should be ready for residence in the fall term. The repainting and recarpeting of the River dorms will also be completed this summer.
Mass Row is currently scheduled to be renovated next summer but whether that will happen is uncertain until funding and residence issues become more clear, Redman said.
ORL will also begin testing possible sites for the construction of new dorms, and hope to have a list of potential sites available by August, Redman said.
