Campus Avenue Field – News

Campus Construction Update: Sept. 22, 2022

Doug Hubley — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 11:47:56 +0000

After more than a year of renovation that has redefined Dana Hall’s role in science education at �ֲ��ý, the building formally reopened with a celebration on Aug. 29.

“It is kind of spectacular, the transformation that has been accomplished over a fairly brief time — it really is brief, when you consider the scope of the work,” Malcolm Hill, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, told the gathering.

That transformation rendered Dana’s interior infinitely more user-friendly, replacing a dim and labyrinthine interior with bright surfaces, long sightlines, and cheerful student spaces. And the project broadened Dana’s academic mission from a singular focus on chemistry to introductory chem and biology, with a side order of three active-learning classrooms suitable for any subject.

Shear excitement: On the brink of the Aug. 29 ribbon-cutting that formally opened Dana Hall are, from left, Geoff Swift, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer; President Clayton Spencer; and Malcolm Hill, vice president of academic affairs and dean of the faculty. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

A fume hood in a first-floor chemistry lab in Dana Hall stands next to a window revealing an associated classroom. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

Chris Streifel, the �ֲ��ý Facility Services senior project manager who has overseen the renovation of Dana Hall and other high-profile construction projects in recent years, climbs a Dana stairway during the Aug. 29 reopening. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

A corner office in Dana Hall. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

President Clayton Spencer and Hoi Ning Ngai, associate director of the Center for Purposeful Work, pass a third-floor study room during the Aug. 29 reopening reception for Dana Hall. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

Dana Hall shown from Alumni Walk on Sept. 14, a week into the 2022–2023 academic year. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Both academically and socially, in other words, the renovated Dana is now a place for all �ֲ��ý students.

“That is all due to the hard work of many, including our design and construction partners and the brilliant �ֲ��ý facilities team,” Hill told the Aug. 29 gathering. Like the rest of campus, Dana opened for the academic year the week of Labor Day.

Dana made his fortune in part through investing in the production of the universal joint — not a populist cannabis product.

Also speaking at the event, as well as joining Hill in a ritual ribbon-cutting, were �ֲ��ý President Clayton Spencer and Geoff Swift, vice president for finance and administration and the college’s treasurer.

Spencer offered a concise history of Dana, which was dedicated in 1965 and named for lead donor Charles A. Dana, who was a kind of Johnny Appleseed of campus construction at a variety of schools. (We learned later that Dana made his fortune in part through investing in the production of the universal joint — not a populist cannabis product, but an industrially vital mechanical device often seen spinning underneath box trucks.)

This image captured through a door into Dana Hall’s chemical prep room exemplifies the way design firm Payette has brought natural light more deeply into the building. Visible through the windows is Alumni Walk. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Swift, meanwhile, thanked the many parties whose efforts made the Dana renovation a reality, including �ֲ��ý’ capital projects staff, construction management company Consigli, the project designers of Boston architectural firm Payette, and many more.

Thirty or 40 people attended the afternoon gathering, which began at Dana’s Alumni Walk entrance with a supply of Dining Services treats close by. Most of the scheduled two hours was allotted simply for folks to wander through the building.

Many who were familiar with Dana were “kind of shocked,” in a good way, by the results of the makeover, says Chris Streifel, who has overseen the renovation as a senior project manager for �ֲ��ý.

Karen Chen ’26 of Brooklyn, N.Y., studies in Dana Hall’s first-floor “living room,” which affords dramatic views of Alumni Walk and Commons. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

“A large number of people had never been in Dana before, too, were just impressed with what they found, not even knowing what the transformation really meant. So I think that my biggest takeaway was just the gratification of [observing] people see what I have seen, which is a much different building now, and for the better.”

Indeed, there’s a lot to admire in the new Dana, from banks of state-of-the art lab equipment to preserved remnants of past construction techniques to unprogrammed student spaces of a kind increasingly considered essential to student success.

Jay Burns, �ֲ��ý Communications editorial director, took a moment to talk with architect Michael Hinchcliffe about the thinking behind those student spaces. Hinchcliffe, a principal at Payette, was the lead architect of the Dana project as well as the Bonney Science Center, which opened last year. (Both projects, as well as Carnegie Science Hall, are part of a strategic reconfiguration of �ֲ��ý science facilities.)

Facing Dana Hall’s second-floor lobby from �ֲ��ý’ Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning. A key goal of the Dana renovation was to brighten and open up the building’s dim, convoluted interior. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Hinchcliffe pointed to a significant difference in emphasis between Dana and Bonney. The latter, he explained, was designed in large part to create “advanced scientific environments in an undergraduate setting.” But the new Dana — originally Dana Chemistry Hall — was reinvented largely to appeal to a broad swath of users and to take advantage of its central location on Alumni Walk.

Central to that objective are features such as glass-walled study rooms, furniture casually sited along public ways, and an inviting “living room” with fab views of Alumni Walk. (But note that this point of contrast between Dana and Bonney isn’t absolute. Bonney’s two-story, glass-walled Beacon lounge is also meant to draw users from across campus.)

Consultations with the campus community during the design phase revealed that �ֲ��ý students, like their peers elsewhere, seek out seemingly random seating for myriad purposes — for solitude, for a quiet conversation, for a perch to munch a power bar between commitments.

A view from Dana Hall’s first-floor lobby toward the Alumni Walk entrance. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

“That was in the back of our minds for spaces like this,” Hinchcliffe said. “Most campus buildings from the ’50s [onward] even into the ’80s were over-programmed. Everything was super efficient. They didn’t have this little bit of extra space for students.

“Buildings like Dana and Bonney can offer a type of ‘third space.’ So if you’re working on a problem set or on a project with some peers, you can come to a place like this and work in a way that’s different from someone’s dorm room or a classroom. It’s a little bit more public“ — which can afford a sense of security when people don’t know each other well — “yet it still provides a focus, and quiet, and resources like whiteboards and monitors.”

Such places can nurture a sense of belonging, Hinchcliffe continued. According to “a fair amount of literature on modeled behavior and territoriality, students tend to find a place their freshman or their sophomore year that they feel comfortable in. And they’ll tend to go back there, and they also tend to create communities of ‘Oh, yeah, I always see someone else studying there, so it’s okay for me to study there.”

Are we there yet? Oftentimes, says Streifel, there’s a comfortable interval between the actual end of construction on a major project and its ceremonial conclusion. So in terms of readiness and presentability, “the shine is already on the apple at that point.”

Dana 119, originally built as a lecture hall with a raked floor, is now a lab for teaching introductory chemistry. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

In the case of Dana, though, “we were really polishing it right up to the very end.”

And even now there’s some work to do. (By way of perspective, some punch list items across campus at the Bonney Center weren’t cleared until this summer.)

There are subtle finishing touches to Dana’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems remaining — the kind of things that someone can do before classes start for the day. The casework contractor paid a few evening visits last week to discipline some balky drawer slides. Prior to that, there was late-arriving door glass to install.

In the longer term, the tardy autoclave that we mentioned last time will arrive in time for installation during October break, as will some water purification equipment and additional casework. And, as we’ve written before, it takes four seasons to fine-tune a new HVAC system. Streifel himself has a lot of desk work still to do in closing out contracts, etc.

An active-learning classroom in the newly renovated Dana Hall. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

But with Aug. 29 receding in the rearview mirror, he says, “it’s just a relief to be at the tail end of a significant project that was full of challenges and unknowns. And to be able to take something right at the core of the campus, and do a very significant renovation, and turn it back over to its intended use on schedule and on budget, is always a very good deal.”

Chasm Hall: You could say — in fact, we actually are saying — that a recent theme for the Chase Hall renovation has been “holes.”

This Sept. 16 image shows the void left by the removal of two concrete floor slabs in Chase Hall. Temporarily a room with a view, the reception area for the Office of Intercultural Education appears slightly above center. (Courtesy of Consigli Construction)

If you passed the building via Campus Avenue last week, you might have seen a big old hole right in front of the entrance near the Chase–Carnegie Science courtyard. The bottom of the pit had been lined with gravel and was being compacted in preparation for concrete. Along one end of the pit, a partial retaining wall had been placed and a rodbuster was wiring up rebar in anticipation of the next pour.

Here a ramp will be built to carry visitors down into Chase’s new main lobby. But before that happens, walls lining the public sidewalk to either side of the ramp location will be started, with bench seats molded right into the concrete.

Other holes could be found inside Chase. There was a pretty good one inside that same main entrance, as the stairs and the landing outside Skelton and Hirasawa lounges had been demolished. One could look straight down from the second floor to ground level.

Where people using this Chase Hall entrance previously climbed some steps to enter the building, the renovation will provide an accessible ramp here that descends gently from street level into the ground floor. Here, workers are preparing the site for the new construction. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

A second-floor window affords a view of site work in front of Chase Hall. A new ramp descending from street level will serve one of two rebuilt Campus Avenue entrances. Note the glossy marine clay around the excavation. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Three separate rooms are being joined to form a student activity space on Chase Hall’s second floor. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

If you came up to Chase Hall’s first floor from the ground level last week, this view of the lobby is what greeted you. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Stockpiled building materials and new ceilings on the second floor. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

This wall in Chase Hall’s lobby will accommodate, at left behind the chair, a door leading to OIE prayer rooms and other first-floor facilities; and, at right, access to a major stairway connecting the building’s three main levels. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

The former College Store looking toward the entrance and Chase Hall’s ground-level lobby. Between the camera and the red-brick columns, offices for Campus Life and a community service program will be placed. The space beyond the brick columns will become a student lounge. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Chase Hall Lounge, minus a wall. Note the familiar fireplace at left. The yellow doorway at center shows the location of a new main stairway that will connect all levels of Chase Hall. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

A “rodbuster” wires up rebar in preparation for the placement of a concrete retaining wall at what was once Chase Hall’s primary Campus Avenue entrance. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

But the biggest and best hole was in the area behind Chase Lounge. Once a zone of student arts clubs and before them, Dining Services facilities, it’s the future location of stairs and an elevator. In the past weeks the concrete first- and second-floor slabs had been removed, leaving something like a messy atrium.

But how is a floor slab removed safely? “The concrete slabs were demolished via a robotic electric concrete-cutting saw,” explained Mike Carpentier, Chase project superintendent for Consigli Construction, the firm managing the project for �ֲ��ý.

“The rails for the saw are bolted to the slab and it travels on them to make the cuts. This allows the pieces to be dropped to the floor below without workers being in the area. When workers were in the area to move the saw along to the location of the next cut, they were tied off via safety harnesses to the steel structure above.”

Chase Hall Lounge, now missing a wall. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

We gawked at this spectacle (and looked around for a concession stand) while �ֲ��ý project manager Kristi Mynhier, our tour guide, discussed sprinkler-pipe placement with master plumber Chris Becker, who stood on the far side of the chasm. We expected to hear echoes.

But this man-made wonder of the world won’t be around long. Footings and the foundation for the new stairway and elevator will be placed during the next month.

In previous Chase reporting we’ve mentioned a series of “surprises,” building conditions not shown in old plans or other records. These have been good for Campus Construction Update (yay, sources of dramatic tension that we didn’t have to contrive!) — but not so much for the people actually doing the construction, who have had to scramble to accommodate things like unanticipated hazardous materials and undocumented structural elements.

New door frames, electrical rough-ins, and ceilings on the second floor. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Well, here’s an example of the scrambling. Mynhier says that new emphasis is being given to mechanical, electrical, and plumbing rough-ins — in fact, in a change of plan, MEP crews will have to work on multiple floors at the same time so the Chase project can be finished by the stipulated date.

“With all of these unforeseen issues that we encountered while we were demoing and exposing the existing structure, it pushed the schedule so that we had to resequence, and the MEP rough-ins became the critical path” — the sequence of jobs that have priority.

“So we actually had to make sure the crews could increase their size in order to do both the first floor rough-in and the second floor rough-in at the same time to keep us on schedule.”

At least, Mynhier says, “I think we’ve uncovered all the surprises now, thankfully.” And the construction team for Chase’s next renovation — 100 years from now? — will be able to refer to the 360-degree construction images, many of them in-wall, that the project team is making now.

The Farnsworth Report: Of project manager Paul Farnsworth’s summer responsibilities, Olin Arts Center is where the most work remains to be done. For both the HVAC system replacement and the installation of a new main electrical panel, the arrival of major components has been delayed.

This drone’s-eye view of the Russell Street Track shows the new Mondo track surface in all its ruddy glory. Russell Street itself runs between left and center. (Courtesy of Dave Cleaveland/Maine Imaging)

But the building is running just fine. The 800-amp panel was ordered in January and, says Farnsworth, “we’re still not sure it will arrive by next January.” In the meantime, the current distribution panel (or current current distribution panel — see what we did there?) is fully functional, just old.

As for the HVAC system, still outstanding are chillers that will cool and dehydrate interior air. But rental units are bridging the gap till the permanent units are installed, which is expected by October. System debugging is still in progress, but the rental units have enabled technicians to balance flows within the system, so that important step is done.

Appearing beneath the “�ֲ��ý” in this drone image of the resurfaced Russell Street Track is the water jump for the steeplechase course. (Courtesy of Dave Cleaveland/Maine Imaging)

A view of the new Russell Street Track surface, with Lafayette Street in the background. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Terracotta is the color of the brand-new Mondo surface on the Russell Street Track. While the surface is settling in, the black mat protects it from foot traffic using the soccer field enclosed by the track. The vans in the background are rented by the college for student activities. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

An oblique camera angle turns the Russell Street Track surface into diamonds. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

John Bertram Hall provides a backdrop to the new grandstand at the Campus Avenue Field. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

ADA-compliant access to the new bleachers at the Campus Avenue Field. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

The new bleachers at the Campus Avenue Field. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Farnsworth also oversaw two high-profile undertakings for �ֲ��ý Athletics during the summer. One is done: the replacement of the Mondo-brand rubber surface on the Russell Street Track. Bobcats in the track and field program will first compete on the new surface next spring.

Finally, over at the Campus Avenue Field, the new permanent bleachers are fully functional but still awaiting the metaphorical cherry on top: a �ֲ��ý-branded awning to cover the platform where photographers and videographers work. That should ship by the end of September.

Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes queries and comments about current, past, future, and current construction at �ֲ��ý. Write to dhubley@bates.edu, putting “Campus Construction” or “Don’t bogart that populist cannabis product, my friend!” in the subject line.

Campus Construction Update: Aug. 12, 2016

Doug Hubley — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 20:04:53 +0000

The demolition of �ֲ��ý’ former boathouse is part of this week’s Campus Construction Update.

Campus Construction Update isn’t ready to surrender the hard hat and safety vest quite yet, but that day is coming soon. (The 8-foot ladder stays here!)

Workers install the door unit at the new rear entrance to Wentworth Adams Hall on Aug. 10, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

The four projects that we’ve been following since last spring (or, in the case of the Campus Life Project, since spring 2014) are all coming to fruition in the next few weeks — in time, naturally, for students’ arrival for the new academic year.

Two of the projects are athletic facilities. The new playing surface for the Campus Avenue Field, home of �ֲ��ý field hockey, should be in place by Aug. 19. And �ֲ��ý’ new boathouse, in Greene, is scheduled for completion by Sept. 2.

And two projects, involving four buildings in all, are residential. In one project, Smith and Wentworth Adams halls have been upgraded during the summer. The fourth, of course, is the brand-new �ֲ��ý dorms at 55 and 65 Campus Ave., which we looked at last week. Students will begin moving into all four buildings on Aug. 19.

The former Room 118 in Wentworth Adams Hall will soon be the vestibule for the dorm’s new rear entrance, offering quick access to Lake Andrews. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

At Wentworth Adams, the excitement has focused on the lowest two stories. Being created on the ground floor are an entrance facilitating access to Lake Andrews; and a large study area supporting that floor’s new function as a first-year center. One flight up, a residence director’s apartment is taking the place of a student room.

Meanwhile, Aug. 9 was the date scheduled for substantial completion of the Smith work, which was building-wide. Substantial completion meant, among other things, that �ֲ��ý folks could move freely in the building, giving project manager Paul Farnsworth and others 10 days to square things away before student occupancy.

Smith’s basement has been extensively reworked, including a reconfigured floor plan and new heating infrastructure. Above ground, a makeover of student living space addresses both deferred maintenance issues and a so-called de-densification that’s halving the number of beds to 96. The other 96 are shifting to the new Campus Avenue residences.

During an Aug. 2 tour of Smith with Farnsworth, things were hopping. Every building trade seemed to be represented, especially in the basement — carpenters, wallboard hangers, plumbers, HVAC technicians, security system technicians, tile installers, and electricians.

The new boiler, clad in a white metal cover, was commissioned Aug. 4, a daylong test that included firing up the unit and circulating hot water through the radiators. (The renovation included the relocation of certain hot-water pipes upward an entire floor, from the ceiling of the basement to the ceiling of the first floor. Moving the pipes allows more natural light into the basement.)

A different pipe job was also finished: extending the fire sprinkler pipes out to the middle of the student room ceilings. Formerly positioned near the walls, the sprinklers can now fully cover a room in the unlikely event of a fire.

Heating technicians near the near Smith Hall boiler on Aug. 2, 2016. The heating system passed its operational test two days later. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

And another new system, the makeup air unit and heat exchanger that will serve Smith’s basement, introduced us to (yet another) building concept we’d never considered: makeup air. Makeup air? The possibilities were thought-provoking, but the story is really about energy efficiency.

Exhaust fans like bathroom ventilators and the new range hood in Smith’s basement kitchen reduce air pressure in a building. This “negative pressure” pulls unconditioned outside air inside — not a good thing in colder months.

So the makeup unit equalizes the pressure and, in cold weather, transfers heat from the exhaust air to the incoming air.

Upstairs, painting of the hallways was in progress, with a few bedroom walls still to be done. Bedroom flooring was in place and corridor carpeting was being laid even as we passed through. Farnsworth pointed out that the flooring subcontractor, Paul G. White Interior Solutions, worked six-day weeks and brought in installers from out of state to keep the project on track.

Finally in Smith, renovation of the 12 student bathrooms was nearly complete, incorporating new floor tiles and sinks; water-saving low-flow shower heads; and, for the first time in Smith, overhead lights in the toilet and shower stalls.

Next door at Wentworth Adams, progress was most apparent on the new entrance, with the wall opening covered in plywood while awaiting the door unit’s arrival on the 10th. But the canopy roof over the entryway was finished and the area around it landscaped, with an eye toward enabling a backyard social milieu.

In the vestibule, benches will encourage waiting for a friend, or enjoying the view even during inhospitable weather. A gas grill is on order, and Farnsworth is thinking about laying on a few Adirondack chairs.

Encouraging students to hang out together, he said, “is what this is all about.”

The exterior wall coverings were in place on the front of �ֲ��ý’ new boathouse by late July 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

A Boathouse Raised, Another Razed: Granted that this series is dedicated to construction and not the opposite, we were nevertheless transfixed by the destruction of �ֲ��ý’ former boathouse on July 28.

With its replacement going into service Sept. 1, time was up for the barn-like 1988 structure situated near the new facility on the Androscoggin River in Greene.

The �ֲ��ý rowing fleet was stored at Underhill Arena while the college was between boathouses in July 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Operating an excavator for Wayne, Maine, construction firm C.H. Stevenson, Walter Davenport was an artist at the controls of the John Deere 160D that knocked down the old house — or at least its wooden frame, since the wall planks had been removed previously for re-use in the new boathouse.

Davenport caressed the frame at each end of the building with the Deere’s metal claw. Then he softened up one side. Finally he drove around wiggling corner posts until the structure collapsed with a polite thump.

Rowing coach Peter Steenstra witnessed the razing. “I’m proud of what we did with so little,” he said, referring to shortcomings in the old boathouse that had emerged as the rowing program grew. “And now it’s amazing how so little can somehow seem like so much.”

Davenport and his Deere also put an end to a problem that cropped up at the start of the boathouse construction project, back in April: the discovery of rocks, really big rocks, that were in the way at the construction site.

Removing them intact would have been prohibitively expensive, says �ֲ��ý project manager Henry Gillert. Incorporating them into the landscaping proved to be unworkable. But finally, Gillert says, a jackhammer mounted on an excavator’s boom — a so-called hoe ram — was used to break up the rocks, which Davenport loaded into dump trucks for disposal on the 28th.

Walter Davenport and his Deere excavator load the broken-up remains of large rocks that had posed something of a problem on the site of �ֲ��ý’ new boathouse. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

“They were really hard rocks, and we weren’t sure we were going to be able to do it,” says Gillert, “but they did it in one day. It was a huge win to be able to get rid of those at a reasonable cost.”

At any rate, the new boathouse itself is right on schedule. Combining gray shingles, garnet clapboards, and white trim, much of the exterior wall covering is in place. The windows are finished. This week, plumbers and electricians have been doing terminal installations, e.g., faucets and light switches, and tiling experts are on task in locker rooms and bathrooms.

Those wall planks from the old boathouse, freshly planed and finished, will be fitted as corridor wainscoting and ceiling accents starting next week. A key feature, the slick telescoping Focus Rack Systems boat racks, will arrive the week of the 22nd.

The TenCate Ecocept layer on the Campus Avenue Field on Aug. 8, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

All Mixed Up: Finally on the athletics front, replacement of the Campus Avenue Field playing surface has resumed after a delay related in part to equipment troubles.

The new turf, a highly regarded Dutch product called GreenFields TX, has two layers: a carpet of high-tech faux grass on top, and a shock-absorbent base that’s known generically as the elastic layer or e-layer, and in GreenFields parlance as the Ecocept layer, made by the Dutch firm TenCate.

It consists of recycled rubber crumbs and chipped-up plastic bottles that are mixed with polyurethane glue right on site just prior to placement.

A crew for NET Sports of Saco, Maine, places the GreenFields TX Ecocept layer on �ֲ��ý’ field hockey facility. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

That Ecocept layer was supposed to go down the third week of July. But the mixing machine that project contractor NET Sports Group of Saco, Maine, brought up from Texas was not performing to the satisfaction of the GreenFields supervisor on the scene. So NET bought a new mixer from Germany.

Because irregularities in the Ecocept are transmitted to the playing surface, Gillert explains, the quality of that layer is critical to the playability of the field. Indeed, the NET Sports crew is so meticulous about laying the stuff that watching them work is like watching paint dry.

“Our main objective is to get it in right, because we’re going to live with that field for 20 years,” Gillert says.

Thanks to the new mixer, the Ecocept was successfully placed this week and the grassy GreenFields carpet is scheduled to arrive Aug. 12.

Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes queries and comments about current, past, and future construction at �ֲ��ý. Write to dhubley@bates.edu, putting “Campus Construction” or “Makeup air? Is that like makeup … never mind” in the subject line. Or use the comments system below.

Campus Construction Update: July 22, 2016

Doug Hubley — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 20:34:54 +0000

Topped with worn blue padding, the wooden boat racks were still in place in �ֲ��ý' 1988 boathouse on July 19, 2016, about a week before its scheduled demolition. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Carpenters for R.S. Egenstafer Construction of Littleton, Maine, dismantling the old �ֲ��ý boathouse on July 19, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

The new �ֲ��ý boathouse seen through the wall framing of its 1988 predecessor. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

The �ֲ��ý boathouse on July 19, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

A padded cradle once used for storing �ֲ��ý racing shells lies discarded in the old boathouse. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

As �ֲ��ý’ new varsity rowing boathouse comes closer and closer to completion, the old boathouse comes closer and closer to vanishing. When we visited on July 19, the barn-like space was all but empty, with just a few wooden boat racks remaining and barely enough debris on the ground to catch our interest. The boats are stored on campus in Underhill Arena and the rowing teams’ other gear is stashed in a storage unit on the construction site.

Carpenters for R.S. Egenstafer Construction of Littleton, Maine, dismantling the old �ֲ��ý boathouse on July 19, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

The roof looked more or less intact, but the walls have been reduced to bare framing. The planks that once covered them have been sent to East Coast Millwork of Boothbay, Maine, for resurfacing and sizing, after which they’ll be re-used to finish walls inside the new boathouse.

It’s nice to know that something of the 1988 boathouse will live on in the 2016 edition.

And on July 28, what’s left of the old house “will just get knocked down, chopped up, and hauled away,” explains project manager Henry Gillert.

Uphill from the old boathouse and a bit further from the Androscoggin River sits the new boathouse. Thanks to Hahnel Brothers Co., of Lewiston, the roof was finished the second week of July. Hahnel put asphalt shingles on the boathouse proper and a heavy rubber-like membrane on the adjoining annex, which will contain lockers, showers, and the team room — all amenities the old house lacked.

The �ֲ��ý boathouse on July 19, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Most windows are in place on both sections, including clustered units on the team room that face east toward the river and pointy ones up near the gables that cast a dramatic light into the boat-storage space.

The plywood walls have been coated with Typar breathable weather-protection membrane. (It’s a building product that, like the similar Tyvek, is likely named for a prominent figure in the Vulcan High Command. “May your building envelope live long and enable you to prosper.”)

And with the Typar in place, carpenters for R.S. Egenstafer Construction, based in the Aroostook County town of Littleton, Maine, will sheath the building with stained wooden shingles and garnet-painted clapboards.

Inside the boathouse, the installation of wallboard and insulation is well underway, accompanied by mechanical-electrical rough-ins — that is, the running of infrastructure like pipes and wires into a space without making final hookups. The walls can be closed up when those rough-ins have had their municipal inspection.

Topped with worn blue padding, the wooden boat racks were still in place in �ֲ��ý’ 1988 boathouse on July 19, 2016, about a week before its scheduled demolition. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

All in all, Gillert says, “it’s really progressing very smoothly.”

Also in early July, a representative from the specialty boat-rack builder Focus Rack Systems of Nashville, Mich., visited to measure the boat storage space.

“That’s a very, very big deal,” says Gillert. Proper boat storage is a focus of concern for the rowing coach Peter Steenstra and his teams, as the lightly built vessels are quite vulnerable to damage. Dings that puncture a boat’s skin can admit moisture that will cause the hull to deteriorate.

The old racks were essentially padded pieces of wood mounted perpendicular to the boathouse walls. (There were also some padded hook-like boat cradles that hung from the ceiling on ropes. Steenstra has pointed out that the old house ended up storing three times as many boats as it was designed for.)

The Focus racks, instead, will have telescoping arms that function like drawers, making boat handling easier on both vessels and rowers. As one of the final stages of the boathouse construction, Focus will install the racks during the third week of August.

In other news from the Androscoggin’s shady banks, the project team has decided the fate of the boulders that surprised everyone when they turned up during foundation work. The big rocks will be broken up and hauled away.

The 1988 �ֲ��ý boathouse, at left, and the new facility, pictured on July 11, 2016. The Androscoggin River is behind the trees. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Turf’s up: The summer’s other major athletics construction project, the replacement of artificial turf at Campus Avenue Field, was on hiatus earlier this week.

Workers finished grading the stone base for the new state-of-of-art GreenFields TX turf in mid-July. But the placement of the shock-absorbing TenCate Ecocept layer, which will underlie the grassy-looking playing surface, was delayed until specialized equipment could be delivered here from a job in Texas.

That gear has arrived and work was expected to begin today, July 22.

A Crooker Construction excavator handles rolls of AstroTurf that have been removed from Campus Avenue Field. GreenFields TX will replace the 16-year-old AstroTurf. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Nevertheless, the renovation of the �ֲ��ý field hockey team’s home field is expected to be complete by Aug. 3.

Like a giant pizza cutter, the circular blade on this front-end loader is slicing the Campus Avenue Field AstroTurf on July 6, 2016, prior to rolling it up for removal. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

A team from Crooker Construction of Topsham, Maine, had cut up and removed the old AstroTurf at the Campus Avenue Field early in the month. �ֲ��ý was hoping to give reusable surface portions of the old turf, installed in 2000, to local schools, but none were reusable. The AstroTurf had been glued onto a shock-absorbing elastic layer, aka e-layer, of mixed asphalt, stone, and rubber, and that was some tough glue.

“Everything just came up as one solid piece,” says Gillert, whose project management portfolio includes the field hockey field as well as the boathouse.

Around the same time the AstroTurf was being peeled off Campus Avenue Field, AstroTurf LLC was filing for bankruptcy protection, in an action designed to protect an intended sale of the company. The firm was a pioneer in the field of artificial turf, and was also a bidder in the current project.

With some of the AstroTurf still in place on Campus Avenue Field, an excavator stacks rolls of the turf that have just been peeled off on July 6, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Talk about turf wars. The filing followed AstroTurf’s $30 million loss in a patent fight with the French company Tarkett. That company makes yet another turf for athletics: FieldTurf, which covers �ֲ��ý’ Garcelon Field as well as several NFL facilities.

Whatever happens next with AstroTurf the company, AstroTurf the product has left �ֲ��ý with its honor intact. “A lot of folks have said that we really got our money’s worth with that field,” Gillert notes.

He expects the same result from the GreenFields, made by a company based in the Netherlands. “It’s a great manufacturer with a great reputation,” he says. “Everybody’s really excited to see this new product come in.”

Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes your questions and comments about current, past, and future construction at �ֲ��ý. Write to dhubley@bates.edu, putting “Campus Construction” or “Do the Vulcans use artificial turf?” in the subject line. Or use the 21st-century commenting system below.

Campus Construction Update: July 1, 2016

Doug Hubley — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 14:07:40 +0000

This outdated Bobcat likeness on the old AstroTurf surface will be refreshed when �ֲ��ý installs new GreenFields TX turf on the Campus Avenue Field. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

When Campus Construction Update learned that a new watering system was part of this summer’s project to replace the playing surface on �ֲ��ý’ field hockey facility, our journalistic reflexes started to bark. Why, they asked, would you irrigate artificial grass? Well, as it turns out, it’s standard in field hockey to soak the artificial turf for games and practices (in above-freezing temperatures, anyway). The reasons involve both the quality of play and the safety of the players, explains �ֲ��ý’ field hockey coach Danielle Ryder.

A crew from Thirsty Turf works on the Campus Avenue Field’s new irrigation system on June 7, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

“The water allows the ball to move at greater speeds with a consistent roll,” she says. “It also keeps the ball on the very top layer of the turf carpet, allowing players to easily maneuver their sticks around the ball.” The water reduces friction and therefore injuries, Ryder adds. “It plays a huge role in player safety. Imagine running full speed and falling across your living room rug. You’d walk away with some pretty bad rug burns, although we call it turf burn.” The installation of the irrigation system, by the Portland firm Thirsty Turf, began the remake of the Campus Avenue Field in early June. But most of the work happens during July — notably, the removal of the 16-year-old AstroTurf, leveling of the existing gravel substrate, and placement of the new turf, made by the Dutch company GreenFields and called GreenFields TX. AstroTurf removal begins the week of July 4, and the entire project should be done by Aug. 1. A few chores like the irrigation system are being handled by subcontractors, but the lead contractor is NET Sports Group of Saco, Maine — which, coincidentally, just installed TX at Syracuse University. New turf is overdue on Campus Avenue Field, Ryder says. Symptoms of wear on the AstroTurf include bald spots, notably in the highly trafficked shooting circle, and seams that are separating. In addition, the so-called e-layer, a shock-absorbing stratum of rubber chips, has become compressed and hard.

In addition to replacing the 16-year-old AstroTurf surface, this summer’s renovations will entail placing new sod around the perimeter. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

There are also inconsistencies in the current surface, such as sewn-in markings, that make ball trajectories unpredictable. And the giant Bobcat emblem gets slippery when wet. “It’s tough because it’s right in the middle of the field,” says a member of the team, Caroline O’Reilly ’18 of Longmeadow, Mass. Most important, though, technology has marched on, and the GreenFields TX is simply a much better product than the poor old AstroTurf. The AstroTurf is nylon and the GreenFields is polypropylene, which is softer and therefore safer, explains Henry Gillert, who is managing the turf replacement for �ֲ��ý Facility Services. And TX has a better bounce and other playing characteristics — so much so that it was the field surface chosen for the 2014 Hockey World Cup. Gillert notes that Ryder and the project team interviewed four different manufacturers, including AstroTurf. “There are not a lot of GreenFields installations in the United States, but it seems to be far superior in many aspects, so we feel pretty confident about the decision,” he says. “It’s really going to be a great field for many years. The industry has changed so much since the AstroTurf installation — and it’s changing as we sit here. That’s how dynamic it is.” So what about that irrigation system? It will feature eight sprinkler heads around the field, three along each of the long sides and one on each of the short sides.

Wearing of the green: A hole in the 16-year-old AstroTurf at �ֲ��ý’ Campus Avenue Field. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Before games and at halftime, after a warning horn, the heads will pop up around the perimeter of the field and let fly. “It’ll provide a uniform coverage of water across the surface of the field,” Gillert says. “One of the criteria was that the system be able to saturate the field within the 10-minute halftime.” Each head, says Gillert, will be able to spray a 130-foot jet. And each will pump 350 gallons per minute at a time onto the GreenFields TX. “That’s a lot of water in one minute,” he says. Previously, Facility Services crews would deploy water cannons to wet the field before a game and again at half-time — a problematic arrangement because the water cannons had neither the volume nor the coverage patterns to drench the whole field. And the new system, Gillert adds, can be operated with a cellphone app. Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes queries and comments about current, past, and future construction at �ֲ��ý. Write to dhubley@bates.edu, putting “Campus Construction” or “Down, you pesky journalistic instincts!” in the subject line. Or use the comments system below.

The focus of the 2016 Campus Avenue Field renovation is the replacement of AstroTurf installed in 2000. The Ecco Seawalkers will be around for a while longer, though. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)