This past year saw residence hall renovations and landscaping completion, but plans for the construction of academic buildings and a new dining hall faced local opposition and delays.
Fall term, the College displayed initial sketches to replace Thayer Dining Hall, but the College has postponed construction plans until the Social Spaces Committee releases its report on alternative social spaces. The report will include suggestions for spaces within the new dining hall, Mary Gorman, associate provost of the College, told The Dartmouth last month.
The committee's report will be published late summer or early fall, and Gorman estimates that an additional year of planning is required before construction can begin. The project will likely cost $50-70 million, Martin Redman, dean of residential life, told The Dartmouth.
Planning of the new Visual Arts Center was also delayed this year. The deferral enabled the Office of Residential Life to continue to house students in Brewster Hall and The Lodge, both of which will be torn down during construction, for the 2008-2009 academic year. The College had informed students in February that an additional 100 members of the class of 2009 would have to live off campus because of the loss of these two buildings, but reversed this decision one week before room draw when it decided to keep the buildings open.
Construction of the new $93 million Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center is scheduled to begin in June, according to the Office of Planning and Development web site. The building, which will replace Gilman Hall, will house the Biology Department. The Occom Pond Neighborhood Association challenged the proposed construction in November by filing an appeal of two Hanover rulings that had approved the construction plans. Although Stephen Campbell, director of the Office of Planning, Design and Construction at the College, told the Dartmouth in October that he hoped the building would open in March 2010, Gorman said the building will not be ready for occupancy until March 2011 at the earliest in an April interview with The Dartmouth.
Not all construction on campus this year was postponed, as Hithcock Residence Hall reopened Winter term to positive reviews from students after being completely gutted, Redman told The Dartmouth in April.
Following the completion of Hitchcock, work began on New Hampshire Residence Hall. After completion of renovation, New Hamp will house 101 students, as opposed to the 120 students it housed previously, according to Redman. The project, which is currently operating in line with the projected budget of $12.4 million, could be finished as early as next spring, Redman said.
The College also completed the $2.4 million landscaping project behind Kemeny and Haldeman Halls last month. The early onset of winter delayed the project from its scheduled fall date of completion, Bill Kitchel, project manager for the OPDC, said in May.
The College altered the original landscaping plans that included a terraced amphitheater because of issues of maintenance and cost. A rounded bowl, complete with wiring for internet and microphones, replaced the proposed amphitheater.
"It changed in design from being a formal and pronounced amphitheater," Kitchel said in a May interview. "Over time, the design took those terraces out, and it became a gentle bowl. Trimming things out is a part of every project."
