Three years shy of its 100th birthday, the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Chapel will be the object of a new construction project this year — starting next week, in fact.

For the next nine months, workers will be replacing the venerable building’s slate roof and tending to the turrets at each corner.

Despite the staging that will surround the building from March 28 into December, though, the Chapel will remain open for business during the repairs. Note, however, that “it could be noisy inside there,” says Pam Wichroski, the college’s director of capital planning and construction. Of course, construction will pause during signature College events.

“A lot of the Chapel activities take place evenings and weekends, so the construction shouldn’t impact those.”

On the turrets, the copper cupolas will be removed, their metalwork repaired, and reinstalled. In addition, masons will redo the mortar joints between the Quincy granite wall stones, a chore that could involve removing and resetting stones where the mortar is too far gone. The building’s walls also need such retooling, but that will come in a second, as-yet-unscheduled phase of the project.

The roofing work, meanwhile, will be comprehensive. Original to the building, the roof “has basically reached its end of life,” Wichroski says. “We’re starting to see water infiltration into the building,” particularly in the turrets and in the choir loft, where plaster has been damaged.

“They’re taking all of the old slate off, right down to the wood roofing. They’ll repair any problems that they find in the wood, put new underlayment down and new slate on top of that.” The copper flashing at the seams and edges will be replaced, too.

Slate is one of the most durable roof coverings, not to mention the classiest, and the lifespan of the Chapel roof is right in the ballpark, according to a that gives 60-125 years as a typical length of service. The site also notes that 1914, when the Chapel was finished, marked the end of the boom in slate roofing in the U.S., as less expensive materials entered the market.

The cost of slate remains an issue. When ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ reroofed Alumni Gym and the Gray Cage last year, the sheer expanse needing to be covered ruled out the idea of replacing the old slate with new. Asphalt shingles went onto the roofs instead. “It’s always a tough decision,” Wichroski says.

But the college remains committed to keeping it on the campus’ most historic and visible buildings whenever possible. That includes the Chapel, which was modeled after the chapel of King’s College at Cambridge University, and is the site of countless cherished ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ memories.

The general contractor for the project is Consigli Construction Co. of Milford, Mass., and Portland, Maine — familiar to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ from the New Dining Commons and Alumni Walk project.

.

As ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ continues to transform two 19th-century residence halls into state-of-the-art academic buildings, the college has received a $150,000 grant from the George I. Alden Trust to support the renovation project.
The grant supports the $15 million expansion and renovation of Hedge Hall, built in 1890, and nearby Roger Williams Hall (1895) into homes for academic departments and programs. The Alden Trust, established by George Alden in 1912, supports learning institutions that demonstrate educational excellence, exciting programming and effective administration.

“We are deeply grateful for this support from the Alden Trust,” says ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Elaine Tuttle Hansen.

“It’s a validation of our belief in the important role that the built environment can and should play in the liberal arts experience. These renovations are more than mere facelifts — they support a number of educational priorities at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½,” Hansen says.

The new spaces are designed to bring faculty and students together both formally, in classes, and informally in lounge and common spaces,” she explains. “This supports our belief that significant learning happens as much in the social arena as in classroom and lab.”

In addition, she says, “ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ nationally recognized commitment to sustainability is prominently reflected in the Hedge-Williams project,” which, like all new major construction at the college, conforms to the equivalent of the “silver” rating in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system of standards.

Finally, by providing new focuses for activity and stunning new visuals at the east end of a major college thoroughfare, the Hedge-Williams project continues the redefinition of the central ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ campus.

“Foundation funding for infrastructure and capital projects has become increasingly rare,” notes Susan Orton, director of foundation, corporate and government relations. “The Alden Trust understands this, and that’s why this grant is particularly meaningful to all of us at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.”

The nationally known design firm JSA, with offices in Jacksonville, Fla., and Portsmouth, N.H., did the architectural work for the renovations.

Designed by noted architect G.M. Coombs as a chemistry lab, Hedge Hall was converted into a student residence in 1965. In its return to academic service, it will house the Program in Environmental Studies and the departments of religious studies and philosophy. Currently at 14,764 square feet, the building will gain nearly 5,200 square feet in the renovation, including a major addition.

Roger Williams Hall, designed by Lewiston architect Elmer Thomas, opened in 1895 as the home of Cobb Divinity School at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. It was converted to combined residential and administrative use in 1908, becoming fully residential around 1964.

Expanding from about 27,300 square feet to more than 34,000, the hall will house the departments of German and Russian studies and of romance languages and literatures; the Program in Asian Studies; the Language Resource Center; and the Off-Campus Study Office.

Begun in March 2010, the Hedge-Williams project is the fourth and final undertaking of the first phase of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ campus facilities master plan, which also produced a new residence on College Street; the New Dining Commons, on Central Avenue; and the pedestrian boulevard on campus called Alumni Walk.

Anticipated completion date is summer 2011. The Hedge-Williams project also represents a significant act of historic and architectural preservation, as these buildings, constructed within the college’s first 50 years of existence, help tell the early history of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

Hedge and Roger Williams will feature spacious facilities that combine classrooms, lounges, offices and common areas to create intellectually stimulating and emotionally nurturing spaces for students and faculty to come together.

The departments and programs moving to Hedge were previously located away from the center of campus in small wooden buildings. The new location in Hedge will promote easier collaboration and camaraderie both among them and with other disciplines in nearby buildings. Aesthetic additions include new dormer and first-floor windows and a new staircase entrance with a glassed-in stairway that will present an inviting view for passers-by on Alumni Walk.

Follow the progress of the Hedge-Roger Williams renovations through the .

Among distinctive new features in Roger Williams Hall (familiarly known on campus as “Roger Bill” or “the Bill”) is a “cultural kitchen.” New dormers, an addition behind the building and a glass-metal stair tower will transform the exterior.

Hedge and Roger Williams will be 35 percent more energy-efficient than required by ASTM International, a major standards-development organization. “Green” building tactics include hydronic, or water-based, heating and cooling systems; Web-based processes for measuring and verifying energy use; the recycling of construction waste materials; low-flow water fixtures; and motorized windows for automatic ventilation and mitigation of solar warmth gains.

It isn’t the prettiest wrapping job you’ll see this time of year.

But when the plastic sheeting around the Hedge Hall addition does come off, probably in January, you can expect a fine present indeed: neat courses of brick and granite that masons are laying now.

The plastic, explains project manager Paul Farnsworth, retains the warmth that a propane space heater is pumping into the building. The mortar that sticks bricks together develops its strength from a chemical reaction, and that reaction doesn’t happen if the temperature drops below freezing.

The workers are probably OK with the heat, too. There are two big heaters on the site, one feeding Hedge and the other Roger Williams Hall — that one has a plywood cover so workers won’t do damage when they toss down old roof slates. The heat is piped into the buildings from outside so the heaters won’t take up valuable floor space inside.

Another development at Hedge is taking place in plain sight, as roofers are laying the slates atop the other layers of roofing. Campus Construction Update, ever the connoisseur in construction matters, was pleased to see slate going on rather than asphalt shingles or the doubled-over trash bags that we use at home.

It was a simple matter of the price being right, says Farnsworth. “It was an alternate during bidding, and we could afford it. We’re all happy.”

Taking place in pane sight is the window installation at Hedge. Aside from a few openings that will be left vacant to pass building materials through, that job should be done by the week of Dec. 6 with the placement of the large arched windows that are such a distinguishing feature of the building.

And inside Hedge, Farnsworth says, “things are happening fast.”

On the second story, floor sheathing is down, and “they’re going to town with wall studs. On the first floor, the sheathing should be finished by Dec. 4 and then they’ll start with those walls.” On the third floor, carpenters are putting up the wood that will hold up the ceiling, and then the floor and wall work can start.

“Wherever they’ve framed the bathrooms out, the plumbers are right behind,” he adds. “They’ve put in all the carriers — the heavy cast-iron things that hold the fixtures in the wall. And the electricians have started to rough in outlets at the walls.”

The Hedge-Roger Williams project is approaching the greatest diversity of building trades at work, from carpenters to electricians to plumbers to roofers. Farnsworth estimates that, on the busiest days, there are 60 workers on the site.

Across the lot at Roger Bill, the focus is still the roof, as workers have begun attaching wooden rafters to that dramatic steel frame. Doing the rafters and sheathing them will take about four weeks if all goes well. Also on high, the slates are being stripped from the section of the old roof that was retained, on the Alumni Walk end of the building.

In the meantime, the nice shiny metal wall studs on the Bill’s addition will soon be hidden behind a layer of yellow exterior sheathing that’s going up now. That yellow material will then be concealed by a blue vapor barrier, which in turn will be covered with pink insulation. Pastelicious!

Also pending at the Bill is the rebuilding of the brick porch on the side facing Hedge — a project that Farnsworth has been dangling in front of Campus Construction Update for months, like doughnuts before Homer Simpson. A hallmark feature of the building, the porch had deteriorated past the point where mere repointing would put it right, and will be completely redone.

Finally, watch for a new electrical transformer to replace the unit next to the Bill. The replacement, leased from Central Maine Power, will feed both buildings. “At the same time, we’ll be pulling in the feeder cables,” Farnsworth says. “So, hopefully by the end of next week, we’ll be on the new electrical service.”

Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes your questions, reminiscences and comments about campus improvements. Please e-mail staff writer Doug Hubley, stating “Construction Update” in the subject line.

Vaulting ambition: The future home of steam vault No. 1, at Pettengill. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

After nearly two months looking like a battlefield with its mud, dust, broken roots and debris, the 2.5 acre Alumni Walk site will soon sprout a bit of soothing green.

According to project manager Paul Farnsworth, a handful of paper birch trees will be planted along the south edge of the site starting next week. These are a sort of advance guard for the 178 birches that will ultimately grace the Walk. They are coming from a nursery in Biddeford that is tending them for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

The tree plan has changed, Farnsworth noted. Originally, the trees and other finishing features were to be rolled out in block-like zones progressing from west to east. The new plan is to work in strip-like zones going south to north. Planting will be slow at first, Farnsworth cautioned. Still, it’ll be nice to see trees there again.

In other Alumni Walk news, small connecting paths criss-crossing the Walk will be paved with asphalt starting June 7. But, if we may indulge a prejudice: asphalt, schmasphalt. If you are building for the ages, you should make like the Romans and pour concrete. In that spirit, nearly all the concrete retaining walls are finished for the bankings that are being rebuilt between buildings along the Walk.

Workers set a “trench box” where a retaining wall is being built next to Hedge. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

The last wall is at the site of the new amphitheater, between Lane and Pettengill (“retaining wall A,” if you’re keeping track). Its footer will be poured next week. Unexpected utilities work slowed that job a bit.

June 7 is also the day workers expect to start a concrete base at the Walk’s College Street entrance. An apron of paving stones will eventually cover the base.

New student housing: On College Street itself, watch for possible lane closures the week of June 11, as local contractor Gendron & Gendron starts creating the big speed table (asphalt!) that will extend Alumni Walk across to the new student housing. The crossing will occupy more than 100 feet of the length of College Street, traversing the entrance to Mountain Avenue.

It’s for safety, Wichroski said. “Drivers fly through there” now, but painted markings at the crossing, and new flashing lights near Ware and Frye streets, will warn them to slow down.

A bridge at the new student housing. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Meanwhile, on the west side of College, the clock is ticking for the new student housing, scheduled for occupancy in August. “You get 90 percent of the work done,” project manager Pam Wichroski laughed, “and the last 10 percent seems to take as long as the first 90.”

The focus these days is on finishing the metal roof and installing the few remaining windows. The roof, especially, is an invitation for impatience: While the flat expanses are pretty much decked over with ribbed metal panels, the “Freedom Gray” copper sheets covering the dormers need tedious fitting and soldering.

Still, what you can see of the residence from the road looks quite complete. The brick walls on the wings are done, the faux clapboards on the center section virtually done, and following close behind are the window-walls of the living rooms and the bridges that link the center section and wings.

A siding installer at the new student housing. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

The pace of what insiders call “site work” is quickening, too. Bricklayers have begun a screen wall and the barbecue in the courtyard next to Rand Hall. Subsurface structural pieces, such as footings for granite steps at the southeast entrance, are going in. And, Wichroski noted, plantings have been selected for placement by early July.

Engineers from Harriman Associates, the architectural firm that is commissioning the building for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, are into their busiest days of systems testing. In something of a milestone, Wichroski added, the process of phasing in the permanent electrical feed, as opposed to temporary hookups, has begun.

Inside, the end is in sight. Stairwell walls are being finished. Wall painting and floor covering moves apace, as workers install shelving and other millwork, light fixtures, doors and the radiant heating panels that go onto the ceilings.

Incidentally, Wichroski noted, the residence will lead ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ into using “green” cleaning supplies and paper products. And the Bobcat logo will proudly grace each of the building’s 41 toilet paper holders, 58 soap dispensers and 19 paper towel holders.

Question of the week: Why is so much of the lawn in front of Rand Hall fenced off?

Answer: Pam Wichroski says that in past years, that lawn was used for parking by departing students and people involved in Reunion events. But last year, as work on the new housing was getting under way, an underground stormwater detention basin was placed there, and the weight of vehicles would damage the basin.

Lifting slate to the roof of the new Commons. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

“We didn’t want to depend on the new granite curbing to curb the trend,” Wichroski said.

New dining Commons: As we reported in the previous Update, progress on the new Commons has reached that peculiar state where the workers are “really going at it,” as project manager Farnsworth said — but there isn’t much news.

The highlight, Farnsworth reported, is the arrival of two new trades at the Commons: technicians to start roughing in telecommunications and building-controls infrastructure. They join the plumbers, electricians and others who have been buzzing inside this beehive for months. Also inside, drywallers have picked up the tempo on the first floor, and framers are installing steel wall studs.

Masonry remains the watchword for the exterior. (Although the dull-black spray-on weather barrier covering much of the surface is also impressive.) Placement of roof slate has accelerated as workers move out of cramped corners and into broader expanses. Bricklaying continues on the east wall, and workers continue to ring the building with the black granite that forms the base of the outer wall.

Complete with a tent to shield workers from the sun, this steam-line trench is south of Commons. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Notes from underground: The new Commons, by the way, plays a role in the campus steam-heat system. The entire system is a loop: steam goes out through big pipes and steam condensate, known to us laypeople as water, returns to the steam plant through smaller pipes.

Currently, only Pettengill Hall has a pump to push condensate back to the plant and a generator to keep the pump pumping if the electric grid goes down. That’s important, Farnsworth said, because if the water weren’t returned, “we’d have to dump it down the drain, which is expensive in terms of chemical treatment.”

But the new Commons will also have a pump and generator.

The installation of a new steam connection for Alumni Gym will continue into mid-June, Farnsworth said. Currently there are big trenches between the new Commons and the gym, where lines are already in place; and through the gym’s parking lot next to Central Avenue.

“The contractor wants to get it done because it disrupts movement around the building,” Farnsworth said.

Finally, in a change of plan, the planting of the Leahy Field steam vault has been delayed. That’s vault No. 5 — and there will be a quiz.

Publication note: Campus Construction Update returns the week of July 2.

Can we talk? What do you think about the campus improvements process? What would you like to know about it? What do you know that we don’t? We want to hear from you. Please e-mail your questions and comments to Doug Hubley, with “Construction Update” in the subject line.

Our back pages: Campus Construction Update appears every other week. See an index of earlier updates here.

For a bird’s-eye view of the locations for the new student housing and dining Commons, plug these coordinates into or (for the latter, click “Satellite” or “Hybrid”):

New Student Housing: 44 06 25.65 N, 70 12 23.67 W

New Dining Commons: 44 06 19.83 N, 70 12 06.93 W

A steam-line stockpile at Leahy Field. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Blooms and rooms: Spring blossoms frame the student housing. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Engineers last week began the process of testing electrical, mechanical and other systems in the new student housing. The tests, which will continue until the College takes over the building sometime in July, are part of the building’s commissioning — a process of ensuring that everything works and looks as it should.

Testing began with fire dampers, the barriers inside ventilation ducts that swing shut if electronic sensors detect smoke.

Cementitious siding on the center section of 280 College St. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

“Not only do you test to make sure the damper works appropriately,” said project manager Pam Wichroski, “but you make sure you have appropriate access to it. A lot of times if you don’t commission a building, they’ll put them in, then drywall over and forget about it. And down the road, if the damper gets activated, then you’re cutting drywall to reopen it.”

Commissioning new structures isn’t routine, Wichroski noted. Where architects and engineers used to do the kind of verification that is now part of the commissioning process, now “they go to the site just enough to watch and make sure the project is generally being built to the plans and specs. They don’t look at all that detail.”

Students on a tour of the new housing catch the view from a bridge. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Wichroski added, “This is the first building on the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ campus that will have been commissioned.”

Speaking of critical systems, the all-important task of hanging toilets has proceeded from the first to the second levels of the wings, aka “flankers.” Those areas are painted and tiled, too, and “we’re up in the third floors of both flankers, painting,” Wichroski said. “We’ll start doing some flooring in the student rooms this week as well.”

In the building’s center core, she noted, the elevator is up (and down) and running. Speaking of ups and downs, all of the staircases are done.

The number of workers at the housing site peaked in May at 90 or more. The building’s exterior treatments are far enough along that it’s no stretch to envision the finished product. “I would think by the end of May we ought to be pretty cleaned up and most of the outside work looking pretty complete,” agreed Wichroski.

A patchwork of exterior wall materials, including the granite trim, on the new Commons. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Most of the bricklaying on the building’s two wings should be done this week. This week, too, workers started hanging the center core’s siding, a pale gray clapboarding made from a fiber-cement composite that’s an up-and-coming thing in building circles.

Meanwhile, installation of the window-walls for the student living rooms should be done by Commencement. The glass walls of the fireplace lounge, facing a patio complete with its own gas barbecue grill, should be installed within the month.

And roofing continues, with gray metal sheets going onto the flat expanses and, starting May 21, a gray copper product onto the sawtoothed dormers. Hand-fitting the latter is slow and tedious, Wichroski said.

New dining Commons: With occupancy still more than half a year away, the Commons construction is in a phase of intense activity but producing little news, reported project manager Paul Farnsworth.

Work begins on the Commons’ brick veneer on May 24, 2007. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

In something of a milestone, the Commons’ first stairway is now in use at the east end of the building, supplanting the ladders that workers had used for months to get to the second floor.

A forest of silvery steel wall studs has grown up in the kitchen and servery areas. Drywall work has begun with the protracted and fiddly process of fitting filler pieces into the flutes of the corrugated steel ceiling decks. Meanwhile, the roughing-in of electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems continues apace.

There were two other milestones on the exterior. Workers this week began laying slate, the finish layer of the roof, at the northeast corner of the building.

At the same time, bricklayers began their work, starting with the eastern wall near the loading dock. The slate is a deep charcoal gray, as is the granite trim at the base of the exterior walls. Dark gray bricks mixed in with the red ones will pull the visual aesthetic together.

Alumni Walk: Digging has begun for the Walk’s College Street entrance, which will take the form of stone pavement underlain by concrete. Otherwise, much of the work remaining at the Walk’s west end is grading and landscaping.

Slate on the new Commons roof. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Heading east, all the new retaining walls lining the regraded slopes from the historic Quad to the Walk will be complete by the week’s end. And in front of Pettengill, workers began the excavation for a major utilities project on May 23.

It was no surprise when they immediately ran into disused electrical cables pre-dating Pettengill.

This part of campus, Farnsworth explained, is riddled with active and abandoned utilities. So the plan for this dig is to keep the hole’s surface opening as small as possible by making the walls vertical, braced with steel piles and wood, instead of sloped. Hence the piledriving boom crane parked in front of Pettengill this week.

Farnsworth predicted another week of digging before workers started to place drainage, electrical and telecommunications lines, and a major steam junction connecting several buildings.

You’ll drop your meal trays off here. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Steam is the theme, in fact, for much of what’s happening underground, as the College renews or relocates existing lines.

Next week, a steam vault will be planted in Leahey Field, at the edge near Central Ave. When this vault — basically a large concrete box that accommodates valves and junctions for the campus-wide steam-heating system — and its mate on the Commons side of the avenue are in place, the road will be dug up and they will be linked.

Before Reunion (June 8–10), a new steam line will be connected to Alumni Gym, with the work taking place in the parking lot adjacent to Central Avenue. In addition, an existing steam line to Roger Bill will soon undergo asbestos abatement and removal, with a new connection to follow later. The line to Dana Chem will be abated and a replacement laid in June.

“It’s generally the case with institutional construction that you have to do a lot of things to do one thing,” Farnsworth noted. But it works the other way, too: Complicated and expansive projects like the student housing, Commons and Alumni Walk can provide opportunities to check off longstanding needs.

Starting a major utilities project at Pettengill. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

“Hopefully we won’t have to do these again for a long time,” said Farnsworth, referring to all the new utilities going in under the Walk.

Can We Talk? What do you think about the campus improvements process? What would you like to know about it? What do you know that we don’t? We want to hear from you. Please e-mail your questions and comments to Doug Hubley, with “Construction Update” in the subject line.

Our Back Pages: Campus Construction Update appears every other week. See an index of other updates here.

For a bird’s-eye view of the locations for the new student housing and dining Commons, plug these coordinates into or (for the latter, click “Satellite” or “Hybrid”):

New Student Housing: 44 06 25.65 N, 70 12 23.67 W

New Dining Commons: 44 06 19.83 N, 70 12 06.93 W

Dusty old dust: Heavy equipment raises clouds on campus. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Like tea leaves, some parts of the built environment can offer clues about the future, if you know how to read them. The bases for light poles, for instance.

On the new Alumni Walk, the east-west pedestrian connector supplanting Andrews Road, six out of 14 of these concrete cylinders have been planted in the dirt. They won’t tell you much about your own future, but you can divine a bit from them about Alumni Walk.

For starters, the bases’ placement indicates where the Walk’s two parallel paths will go, because the lights will be sited between the lanes. (Along with the light bulbs, several thousand bulbs of the little blue spring flower called scilla will brighten this corridor.)

The ground stripped bare by Pettigrew and Lane halls. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

In addition, you’ll notice that some of the bases seem to stick up too high. As project manager Paul Farnsworth pointed out, the amount of base showing above the current ground level illustrates where the final ground level will be. The site will be regraded so that the Walk and the building entrances facing it will be at the same level, eliminating the need for stairs. So the ground will rise slightly at Pettigrew and Lane halls.

The mezzanine in the new Commons. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

In fact, Alumni Walk work these days is all about the ground. Workers dig in it, planting telecom conduits and retaining walls. They push it around, regrading the slopes that lead between buildings up to the Historic Quad. They have exposed it, removing turf and asphalt from the College Street end nearly to Pettengill.

The naked dirt, which melts into muck in the rain and bakes in the sun, isn’t pretty. During windy days last week, dust peeled off the site in clouds, despite regular spray-downs from a water truck. At least, Farnsworth said, the gusts were mostly from the west and carried the dust toward the new Commons site. It’s so dusty there that a bit more is hardly noticeable.

The future pizza station. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Anyway, the dirt is part of an omelette-and-breaking-eggs kind of deal. Relief is in site. Farnsworth noted that the trees for the Walk — nearly 180 paper birches — have been selected and tagged at a nursery in Canada. In another month or so, he added, the western end of the Walk will be done enough to show the shape of things to come.

“Once we stripped off the road, that space seemed to get wider,” said Farnsworth. “I think Alumni Walk is going to be quite grand, especially through one of the large windows of the dining hall, which looks straight down the walk.”

A view from the kitchen roof. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

New dining Commons: Campus Construction Update got a chance to appreciate that view on April 24 during a tour of the building with Farnsworth. But the day’s featured attraction was concrete.

As we watched, workers finished pouring the slab for the second floor. The process is complex and fast-moving. One worker guided the massive hose, connected to a pumper truck, that dispenses the stuff. Others pushed the concrete with exaggerated trowels called floats to level it and evenly distribute the aggregate — the gravel and sand that form the bulk of concrete — throughout the mix.

Farnsworth also proudly described some of the innovations planned for the building: e.g., a new high-capacity tray-handling machine, an upstairs meeting room whose sound system will make all voices audible, a “flex dining” area configured with movable glass walls.

But all that’s seven months away. The placement of steel wall studs continues
around the exterior, Farnsworth said. Some of the big gaps indicate where windows will be — lots of glass. Other gaps await the application of fireproofing on the structural steel.

The real and envisioned student housing. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

On the south wall of the exterior, facing Alumni Gym, masons are installing the black granite that forms the lowest course of the finish wall. Similarly sober is the black spray-on vapor barrier covering bright yellow insulating panels.

The roof over the kitchen and servery is all but finished this week. Its outer layer is a quarter-inch rubber membrane, colored white to reflect heat. Elsewhere up on the roof, it’s just sandwich-building, layering various panels and membranes on top of the shiny steel decking.

Student living rooms. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Inside, the floor-pouring ended May 7 with the main dining area. Wall framing is moving apace, with the kitchen complete and workers spreading out into other areas. Also on track is the roughing-in of mechanical, HVAC, electrical and other systems.

Farnsworth explained that contractors use “coordination drawings” to plan the order of this work. Architect Sasaki Associates provides a floorplan, “everyone overlays their stuff on it, and it passes through all the pertinent trades,” he said. “The mechanic looks at it, the plumber looks at it, the sprinkler guy looks at it, the electrical.”

Sometimes it takes some adjustment to the design to fix a conflict, but “most things get resolved by people looking at it — ‘Yeah, I can do this.’ ”

Certain systems take priority. Sprinklers and lights, for example, have to go where they have to go, and the remaining installations go in around them. “These contractors and subcontractors have been through this many, many times,” he said. “It’s a very cooperative effort.”

Bricklayers. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

The Things You Learn Dept.: ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ was fortunate, Farnworth said, that pavers were able to put a base coat on the Library Quad service road, neatening it up in time for the Trustee meetings May 11–12. He explained that the asphalt plants only reopened for the season on May 7, mere days before the meeting.

Taking contrarian pride in our beaten but unbowed blacktop driveway at home, we hadn’t been aware that asphalt plants closed for the season. In fact, in Maine it’s too cold to produce asphalt in the winter, Farnsworth said. “Typically they close around Thanksgiving and open up when the weather allows in the spring.”

New student housing: The new student housing hasn’t even opened for business yet, and overcrowding is already a problem.

Not an unusual problem. What’s happening, says project manager Pam Wichroski, is that the subcontractors working on the exterior — masons, roofers, etc. — all need to work in the same confined space. So it takes some choreography to make this ballet happen.

Apparently the spirit of George Balanchine is lurking in there somewhere. The final layer of roofing, a medium-gray metal, has started to appear on the west wing. (In ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ parlance, the wings are “flankers.”) The brick façade on the west flanker of the three-part structure is all but done, and masons have erected staging to start the last phase of bricklaying on the east wing.

Also visible from the street is the progress on windows, notably the room-height glass walls of the student living rooms at the corners of the wings. Overall, project architect Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott has been generous with glass. With most of the windows now in place, “it’s just amazing being in that space with the amount of sunlight that comes in,” says Wichroski.

Looking ahead, Wichroski reported that a representative of Auburn architectural firm Harriman Associates, no stranger to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ building projects, has been around. Harriman has been engaged as the commissioning agent for the new student housing, the party that ensures that the building will be ready to go when ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ gets the keys.

“He’s issued a schedule for all of the subcontractors so they know what pieces of equipment we’ll be testing when,” she said. “The real testing is intended to start on the 21st.”

Wichroski led a group of students and staff through the building on May 9, and we’ll show you some images from that tour when Update appears again, on May 24.

Can We Talk? What do you think about the campus improvements process? What would you like to know about it? What do you know that we don’t? We want to hear from you. Please e-mail your questions and comments to Doug Hubley, with “Construction Update” in the subject line.

Our Back Pages: Campus Construction Update appears every other week into June 2007, during which month we hope to resume weekly publication. See an index of earlier Campus Construction Updates here.

For a bird’s-eye view of the locations for the new student housing and dining Commons, plug these coordinates into or (for the latter, click “Satellite” or “Hybrid”):

New Student Housing: 44 06 25.65 N, 70 12 23.67 W

New Dining Commons: 44 06 19.83 N, 70 12 06.93 W

Hathorn hole: A ladder pokes up from a hole on Alumni Walk. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

The latest assaults from the Winter That Wouldn’t Go Home were two northeasters: one that dropped 10 inches of sloppy snow on April 12, followed three days later by its big brother, a bully that brought more than six inches of rain and tree-cracking winds.

Lewiston was spared the worst of that storm, but it nevertheless slowed the pace of campus construction projects.

The second storm delayed by a day the start of work on Alumni Walk, the cross-campus connector supplanting Andrews Road. Winds gusting to 45 mph kept workers from installing steel panels on the roof of the new dining Commons. And at the new student housing, adjacent to Mount David, exterior work was stalled for days by rain and snow, 40-degree cold and the wind.

A view from Mount David shows the new student housing and the entrance to Alumni Walk. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Alumni Walk: Heavy equipment was in place along Andrews Road by Tuesday, April 17, and on Wednesday the road’s makeover began in earnest.

As planned, the College Street end of Andrews was closed and parking discontinued. The first of two holes behind Hathorn Hall was dug for stormwater infrastructure. To begin the amphitheater between Lane and Pettengill halls, workers removed plantings along the curvy path descending to the Lake Andrews parking lot. And a lattice-boom crane occupied the Lane lawn in anticipation of sheet-pile driving.

Among 11 trees sacrificed for this phase were the two maples guarding the Andrews entrance. But at the suggestion of President Elaine Tuttle Hansen, project manager Paul Farnsworth reported, wood from the trees has been reserved and will be evaluated for possible use in campus projects.

Sometime in the next few weeks, a big hole will appear near Pettengill’s main entrance. This latest excavation, Farnsworth explained, will accommodate several utilities projects. Drainage will go in at the deepest level. A new concrete steam vault for the campus-wide heating system will replace an old brick vault that was rehabbed during Pettengill’s construction.

Heavy equipment at Lane Hall. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Finally, workers will plant a “duct bank” — conduits encased in concrete — for telecommunications lines. This system will include plenty of extra capacity for future growth. Doing all that will take several weeks, but, as Farnsworth explained, you only want to dig once.

The steam system work is especially complicated. After baseball season ends (and it hasn’t even begun yet, thanks to the weather!) and Leahy Field can be dug up, Farnsworth explained, “we’re replacing the steam line all the way from Facility Services up to Pettengill.” And the Pettengill site is crucial, with lines — some needing replacement — branching off to various buildings.

The repurposing of Hedge and Roger Bill after this academic year adds another wrinkle. It’s unknown where the mechanical spaces, and therefore the exact steam entry points, will be in those buildings, he said, “because we’re gutting them. We’ve made allowances to come from the new vault out to them, but we don’t know where the lines are going to go.”

You may see this maple again someday. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

And of course the weather is decisive, Farnsworth added, because they can’t start the project until it’s warm enough to shut off building heat.

Just one more reason to wish for an end to this endless winter.

New student housing: “This weather’s not helping us,” agreed Pam Wichroski, manager of the housing project.

“We had intended to start some of the brickwork this week,” she said. Before the brick veneer is laid on the residence’s two wings, or “flankers,” insulation has to be sprayed on. Before the April 15 storm, about half of the east flanker was green with insulation (better that than envy) and just a bit of the west wing. That’s enough to start bricklaying when weather permits, Wichroski said. She added that spraying could resume by Friday, April 20.

Now that insulating panels are all placed on the flanker roofs, the finish layer of traditional western-Maine style metal roofing could start to appear next week. Much of the roof will be medium-gray steel, but the valleys in between the dormers will be made of a Revere Copper Products material called FreedomGray. That’s copper coated with a zinc-lead compound.

This phase of roofing is likely to take a month. “It’s pretty tedious with all those dormers,” said Wichroski. “They’re actually soldered panels. It’s small-detail work.”

A southern view of the new student housing taken from Mount David. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Meanwhile, work inside the three-section building continues at top speed. Components for the elevator have arrived and installation was expected to begin this week. The third of six stairways, and the first to be built in the center section, is just about finished.

New dining Commons: Pouring of the concrete slab for the Commons’ second level began April 19, Farnsworth said. The next big pour, at the northwest corner of the ground floor, will be done next week.

Meanwhile, the spray-on fireproofing described here last week continues in the southeast quadrant of the building, where the kitchen and servery will be sited. Also in this area, Farnsworth reported, workers have starting laying tracks for the wall framing, offering an initial sense of how that space will be divided. (Campus Construction Update will visit inside the Commons soon.)

As for the outside, the black granite base for the brick veneer walls should arrive by April 20, Farnsworth said. “They surveyed the building and actually cut the stone at the factory. So on site they’ll just piece it together, and they won’t have to do any more field cuts.”

Also next week, metalworkers who have been placing corrugated steel roof plates will finish, turning the top of the Commons over to the roofing contractors. We’ll be a little sorry to see the silvery steel plates covered — on the rare clear days we’ve had this month, it’s been a treat to see them gleaming in the sun.

The new Commons in the sun. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Finally, inside the fence at the Commons site, Farnsworth noted that pipes will be laid to link the steam vaults planted earlier this spring. That work wasn’t done previously because digging would have impeded the Link-Belt crane that was hoisting structural steel.

“It’s a complicated business, isn’t it?” we asked, in a rare moment of lucidity.

“Everything has an impact on something else,” Farnsworth replied. “The one who is organized is the one who wins.”

Can We Talk? What do you think about the campus improvements process? What would you like to know about it? What do you know that we don’t? We want to hear from you. Please e-mail your questions and comments to Doug Hubley, with “Construction Update” in the subject line.

Our Back Pages: See an index of earlier Campus Construction Updates here.

Photo Opps: See panoramic views taken March 13 of campus improvement projects. Click the links for the itself, Commons in a , in a and the .Ìý

And for a bird’s-eye view of the locations for the new student housing and dining Commons, plug these coordinates into or (for the latter, click “Satellite” or “Hybrid”):

New Student Housing: 44 06 25.65 N, 70 12 23.67 W

New Dining Commons: 44 06 19.83 N, 70 12 06.93 W

We knew the three-story scaffold staircase was safe, because dozens of construction workers use it everyday without incident. But nevertheless it wobbled, the stairtreads were small, and it was all exposed, so there was no question about how far away the ground was.

On the other hand, if one did take the express route down, all that mud would have made for a nice soft landing. Churned to a fine consistency by all the workboots, it was remarkable mud. It was mud like some crazy love affair — deep, clinging, complex and unforgettable.

Susanne takes you up: Clerk of the works Susanne Grant guided Campus Construction Update through the new student housing. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Those are a couple impressions from March 22, when Campus Construction Update and ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ staff photographer Phyllis Graber Jensen toured the new student housing at the foot of Mount David. We were accompanied by Susanne Grant, the clerk of the works for the project — the College’s eyes and ears on the job site.

Grant graciously gave us the grand tour. We saw all three stories of the east wing, aka “flanker,” of the three-part structure and the four levels, including the basement, of the center. We saw lots of gray concrete blocks and drywall, silvery steel wall framing and exposed pipes, translucent white poly sheeting that’s hung all over. Dense loops of wire for thermostats and computer hookups dangled like vines from the ceiling joists. We peeked into dorm rooms and bathrooms, sampled the fine campus views that 152 students will enjoy next fall and visited shadowy mechanical spaces that they may never see.

The scaffold stairway at the new student housing. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

With about five months left until occupancy, the interior is well-enough defined to show the “cluster” concept realized by architects Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott. Student rooms, hallways, common rooms and even bathrooms form minicomplexes — like villages on an intimate scale — that, it’s hoped, will breed a sense of communal responsibility as well as camaraderie within each suite.

Especially impressive were the two lounges in the center section. The glass-walled fireplace lounge — open to the sun and the wind during our visit — will afford lots of light and some interesting views inside and out. In the basement, the large lower lounge will conjure up a clublike atmosphere for parties and performances.

A third-floor living room at 280 College St. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

The tour afforded a good grasp of construction progress, as we went from the fresh gray drywall on the flanker’s first floor to the bare shining metal wall studs on the third. It was also up-close-and-personal exposure to the conditions on a building site — not just the mud under foot and the countless trips up and down scaffolding, but wacky temperature shifts, the constant clutter of construction materials and debris, the roar of wood saws and pipe cutters, and the glare of work lights.

While workers have been busy inside and out, exterior progress hasn’t been obvious to the casual observer. That will change the week of April 2, when the plastic wrap comes off and workers start spraying insulation on the flankers’ concrete block walls. At the same time, Grant said, the metal sheets that will form the top layer of the roof will start going into place.

A dormered dorm room. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

New dining Commons: It would take all day on March 29 to pour the concrete base for the roof over the new Commons’ kitchen and servery area, project manager Paul Farnsworth said.

The concrete would keep flowing in that area next week, he predicted, as the kitchen floor was poured — first some minor pours, such as depressed slabs that will be topped with insulation for the coolers and freezers to rest on, and then the floor slab itself.

A carpenter at work in the fireplace lounge at the new student housing. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

With the hanging of additional beams on March 28 to frame the fireplace lounge at the building’s northwest corner, the structural steel for the Commons was essentially done, Farnsworth said. Also finished is the inspection of important welds at what are called “moment connections,” special joints that give the structure resiliency in strong winds. With those inspections passed, Farnsworth said, the pace of installing corrugated roof decking should pick up dramatically.

Finally, in a quick Note from Underground: “We’re trying to get out of the service road” that runs between Alumni Gym and the Library Quad, Farnsworth said. After months of opening the road up and closing it again for new stormwater and sewage drains, there’s one more connection to make, with the city lines at Campus Avenue, near Dining Services’ loading dock.

“Of course we work around Christine’s schedule,” he said, referring to Dining Services director Christine Schwartz. “Fridays are a big food delivery day.”

Hanging steel for the Commons’ fireplace lounge. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Can We Talk? What do you think about the campus improvements process? What would you like to know about it? What do you know that we don’t? We want to hear from you. Please e-mail your questions and comments to Doug Hubley, with “Construction Update” in the subject line.

Our Back Pages: See an index of earlier Campus Construction Updates here.

Photo Opps: See panoramic views taken March 13 of campus improvement projects. Click the links for the Commons itself, Commons in a , in a and the new student housing.Ìý

And for a bird’s-eye view of the locations for the new student housing and dining Commons, plug these coordinates into or (for the latter, click “Satellite” or “Hybrid”):

New Student Housing: 44 06 25.65 N, 70 12 23.67 W

New Dining Commons: 44 06 19.83 N, 70 12 06.93 W

Second story, man: Taken on March 14 from the second story of the new Commons, the image above shows Pettengill Hall and other buildings to the west. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

An interior tour of the new Commons on March 14 impressed Campus Construction Update many times over.

What was so impressive? So much steel overhead and so much ice-crusted mud underfoot. The fast pace and no-nonsense demeanor of the workers hired by contractor Consigli Construction Co. Most of all, the size of the building, the soaring space of the building’s main dining hall and the views of campus it will command.

The main dining area. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Paul Farnsworth, who manages the Commons and Alumni Walk construction projects for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, guided us through the facility on a cool, damp day. From the east entrance we went directly into a long corridor defined by steelwork on one side and plastic sheets on the other. That will become the Arcade, linking meeting rooms, offices and a convenience store with the dining area.

We followed the Arcade west to the future fireplace lounge — now just a foundation and some steel — and to the main entrance and dining hall. Shiny metal decking overhead in the Arcade gave way to a view of gray sky cut up by the steel skelton. Farnsworth pointed out the framework for the second-story dining mezzanine, which will afford views of the main seating area from above, and for a huge skylight near the peak of the roof that will light the seating area.

Even as we spoke, workers high overhead and the big Link-Belt crane were wrangling steel into place. (The structural steelwork was virtually complete and the Link-Belt gone by March 22).

A heap of dirt where the pizza oven and serving station will be situated. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

A ladder brought us to the second floor. Carefully negotiating the corrugations of the decking, we passed spaces that will become meeting rooms overlooking Garcelon Field, and watched workers on the roof deck above the kitchen and servery areas. The height afforded swell views west, past Roger Bill and Pettengill along the course of the new Alumni Walk, and north to the residential village.

We went inside the plastic tent to visit the kitchen and servery area. “At the moment the top priority is the underground work within that area,” Farnsworth said in a later interview. During our visit, the dirt had been thawed, excavation equipment was moving around, trenches had been dug for stormwater drains, a collection tank for cooking grease was in place and a heap of soil marked where students will eventually pick up their pizza.

During the week of March 26, Farnsworth said, concrete will be poured onto the steel roof decking that covers the kitchen and servery. Though more layers of roofing are yet to come, the concrete will give enough protection from rain to enable the roughing-in of walls and above-ground services.

Roger Williams and Hedge halls from the Commons’ second floor. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

How does it all fit together? If you flew low over the new Commons from the
west, you’d first see a right angle two stories high. That contains the dining areas and lounge, the Arcade and its upstairs equivalent. Nestled inside the angle is the one-story section that houses the kitchen and servery.

New Student Housing: Let’s think twice before we bring Christo and Jeanne-Claude to campus. Thanks to Auburn contractor H.E. Callahan, we have a very nicely wrapped building right here already — the student housing being built next to Mount David. For days, the concrete-block building has been completely swaddled in construction-grade poly sheeting.

Why the wrap job? “To prevent water and snow being soaked up by the blockwork,” explained Susanne Grant, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ clerk of the works for the project. “The next big step is to spray foam insulation on the exterior of the building, and if the block is wet, you can’t spray foam.”

The new student housing, swaddled in plastic. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

The 2-inch insulation layer should be applied next week, said Grant.

Meanwhile, out of the public eye, the interior work is charging along. Concrete was poured on March 22 to make beds for stairwells and the floors of the bridges that connect the two wings, aka “flankers,” with the center section of the building. The workers installing drywall moved this week moved to the flankers’ second stories, and should take it to the next level, so to speak, next week.

Notes from Underground: The second of five new concrete steam vaults was in place the week of March 19, at a site at the edge of the library quad. The process had been delayed by the need to abate asbestos. A third vault will likely be planted on the 22nd between Alumni Gym and the new Commons.

And the long-suffering service road that leads from Campus Avenue past Alumni Gym and the Gray Athletic Building goes back into surgery the week of March 26. “With the Gala this weekend, we didn’t want to dig it up,” Farnsworth said. “So we’ll get into it next week to tie Alumni Gym and Gray Cage into the new storm and sewer lines that we brought up.”

The Commons’ west entrance. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

So, during your Gala pit stops, take a moment to say farewell to the old root-clogged drainage that has outlived its usefulness. It’s true what they say: We’ve all got to go sometime.

Can We Talk? What do you think about the campus improvements process? What would you like to know about it? What do you know that we don’t? We want to hear from you. Please e-mail your questions and comments to Doug Hubley, with “Construction Update” in the subject line.

Our Back Pages: See an index of earlier Campus Construction Updates here.

Photo Opps: See panoramic views taken March 13 of campus improvement projects. Click the links for the itself, Commons in a , in a and the .Ìý

And for a bird’s-eye view of the locations for the new student housing and dining Commons, plug these coordinates into or (for the latter, click “Satellite” or “Hybrid”):

New Student Housing: 44 06 25.65 N, 70 12 23.67 W

New Dining Commons: 44 06 19.83 N, 70 12 06.93 W

Walk this way: This image taken from College Street in February shows the site of the future Alumni Walk. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College).

In April, work resumes on the cross-campus connector originally known as the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Walk, now officially titled the Alumni Walk.

This east-west corridor will run from College Street through what is now Andrews Road and up to the new dining Commons. Paul Farnsworth, manager of both projects, explained this week that Walk work will recommence at a site between Lane and Pettengill halls.

A welder makes sparks on the new Commons. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Thanks to the vagaries of New England weather, Farnsworth couldn’t say exactly when that project will start. But it is clear that it won’t be finished when Commencement weekend arrives on May 25, and consequently things will go a bit differently this year.

The graduation procession that traditionally forms up on Andrews Road will gather in the Lane Hall parking lot and walk up College Street, right past the new student housing.

New dining Commons: Structural steelwork is all but done on the Commons, Farnsworth noted. The Link-Belt crane that has hoisted all that steel into place was finishing its work March 15–16, lifting beams for the roof over the fireplace lounge. The crane, which has been visible from much of campus for two months, goes away early next week.

The Alumni Walk, to be completed next fall, will sport a variety of amenities that will make it an inviting place to meet, mingle and gather. Where a path currently undulates down to a parking lot by Lake Andrews, a small amphitheater will be built for classes and performances. Space is being allocated for public art. Pairs of facing benches along the walkways are intended to encourage conversation. After dark, light fixtures in the benches’ bases will make them appear to float.

Steel studs and insulation on the kitchen wall. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Photo Opps: See panoramic views of campus improvement projects Commons taken March 13. Click the links for the itself, Commons in a , in a and the .

New Student Housing: On Libby Avenue, just blocks away from the new student housing being built next to Mount David, Maine Welding and Fabrication has been fabricating the stairs for the new residence, and was expected to deliver the components for the first of six sets this week. As previously reported, contractor Consigli Construction Co. is pushing hard on the kitchen-servery area, next to Alumni Gym, where the greatest concentration of infrastructure needs to be done. Though we won’t see the outer brick veneer for some time to come, the inner wall layers are well along — passers-by on Central Avenue are seeing a lot of yellow insulation these days — and a concrete roof layer will be poured by the end of month.

Plastic wrap on the new student housing. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

The largest flight will go into the center section of the three-part building, explained Susanne Grant, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ clerk of the works for that project. “It goes from the basement all the way up to the attic,” Grant said, “so it’s a very big set of stairs.”

Otherwise, it’s business as usual for the residence project, Grant said. After last week’s subzero nighttime temperatures, a run of warmer-than-normal weather has been a tonic for the 80-plus workers on the job. “It just makes working inside and outside the buildings very comfortable right now,” Grant said.

The workers installing drywall finished the first story in each of the two wings, aka “flankers,” and expected to head upstairs next week. An insulation layer has been laid onto the west flanker’s roof, and a weather barrier on the center section is being started soon.

Rand Hall seen through the west bridge of the new housing. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Toward the end of this month, we should start to see plastic wrap come off the flankers and the application of a 2-inch layer of insulating foam. During the first week of April, Grant said, the brick veneer will start to go on. Morin Brick Company of Auburn is supplying the two colors of brick for this project as well as the Commons, as we explained last week.

Two more will be planted this month, one between the Commons and Alumni Gym, and the other at the edge of the Library Quad, at a site where abatement work is being done on an old asbestos-covered steam line.

Notes from Underground: You won’t notice it once all is said and done, but it’s getting mighty crowded in the ground west of the new Commons. The latest hole inside the work-site fence is for the first of five steam vaults, chambers that will give Facility Services access to the lines that conduct steam from the central heating plant to much of the campus. That first vault — basically a big concrete box with holes in it for pipes, valves and manholes — should be in place by March 16.

Finally, a reader inquired about a one-day excavation right next to the entrance of Pettengill Hall. That was a test pit, Farnsworth explained, to determine the depth of an existing stormwater line that will be joined to a new line later on. Which affords a perfect segue to:

The Link-Belt crane, seen between Coram and Ladd, has loomed over campus for weeks. (Doug Hubley/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

Can We Talk? What do you think about the campus improvements process? What would you like to know about it? What do you know that we don’t? We want to hear from you. Please e-mail your questions and comments to Doug Hubley, with “Construction Update” in the subject line.

Our Back Pages: See an index of earlier Campus Construction Updates here.

For a bird’s-eye view of the locations for the new student housing and dining Commons, plug these coordinates into or (for the latter, click “Satellite” or “Hybrid”):

New Student Housing: 44 06 25.65 N, 70 12 23.67 W

New Dining Commons: 44 06 19.83 N, 70 12 06.93 W