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Smith College: Renovated, Renewed and Rewired............................ |
A three-year program of construction projects funded by a $33 million bond issue draws to a close this year with alterations made to 19 Smith College buildings. The improvements include new communications wiring and upgraded safety systems, such as sprinklers and fire alarms. Also under major reconstruction were many of the residence halls, which underwent interior rehabilitation and mechanical upgrading. "The work that we did was necessary," says William Brandt, director of physical plant. "I think it was just a terrific program that's starting to set us apart from some of our peer institutions and it's something that will serve the college well for many years to come. Smith is just in terrific shape." He points out that the college has not done such extensive renovations since the 1940s. Herb Nickles, director of information systems, reports that the $2 million his department received from the bond issue was spent on installing a fiber optic data network that links 98 buildings with the college's CyberSmith network as well as to the Internet. Only six buildings had this capacity prior to the improvements. "We had to connect all of the buildings on campus," he says. "The internal wiring had to be redone to support higher speeds." According to Nickles, the new network is 20 times faster than the old one. He indicates that 20 student residences will be totally wired by the fall of 1997. Nineteen are already on-line.
Students relax in the newly polished and refurbished living room area of Sessions House, the oldest building owned by the college. Last summer, the interior of Sessions was renovated and rewired............................. The high-tech designs went hand in hand with considerations of the finer points of architecture because of the historic character of certain buildings. When making changes to the facades of these buildings, the architects hired by Smith had to abide by guidelines laid down by the Northampton Historical Commission, the Elm Street Historic District Commission and the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Smith's diligence paid off. The Northampton Historical Commission gave the college preservation awards for its work on Chase and Duckett houses and Pierce Hall. Consulting with those who use the structures, such as students, staff and faculty, played a key part in how buildings were reconfigured. "We want to be sure we listen to the needs of the people who are going to use the building," says Brandt. Because of this policy, certain aspects of the preliminary designs to renovate a room in Sessions House had to be shelved. Students objected to plans to alter a student room said to be haunted by a ghost named Lucy; stories about her existence in the Smith residence house are legendary. "We had talked about changing the configuration of the room. Students asked us not to," Brandt says. "We were able to work around their request." Sessions, which is located in the Elm Street historic district, is the oldest building owned by the college, and is reputed to have been an abolitionist way-station for fleeing slaves traveling the Underground Railroad. Last summer, its innards were taken apart and put back together again to the tune of $2.4 million. Interior work included the reconstruction of bathrooms and the installation of a kitchenette, new laundry facilities and a hot-water heating system. Outside, the residence was made handicapped-accessible by the construction of a new entrance vestibule and ramp. Exterior repairs also covered paneling, windows and roofing. "We had to take the chimney down and rebuild it," Brandt reports. "We renovated this building yet tried to keep the character of the building." At Chapin House, architects used a novel approach to make the building handicapped-accessible without compromising the integrity of the original architecture. They cut into the porch to create a ramp but erased all traces of their handiwork from the final product. In a bid to be environmentally friendly as well, they also dug a 10-foot-deep trench in which to run the air-conditioning line from Chapin to Hatfield Hall. "That's where we would be least intrusive to the trees," says Brandt. Chapin was air-conditioned, Brandt notes, because it usually houses students in summer programs. The steam radiators were replaced with new fan coil units capable of delivering hot-water heat in the winter and chilled-water cooling in the summer months. The temperature in each room can now be monitored by Physical Plant, but each room has a manual override allowing some adjustments for personal preference. In the Quadrangle, the failing slate roofs of Morrow, Wilson and Gardiner were replaced to match roofs at Cushing, Emerson and Jordan, which were replaced in 1995. -WS |
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