Behold the power of furniture.

The college’s residence hall at 280 College Avenue, opened in 2007, includes study rooms designed for small groups. Each room has a table for six, but occupancy rarely tops one or two students.

That’s a prevailing American social response to tables: One person seems to own the whole thing. So a single student in that �ֲ���ý study room can effectively, if not intentionally, take over the whole space — other students don’t want to intrude.

Furniture, in short, shapes psychological space. It’s a lesson taken to heart by the �ֲ���ý people who influenced the design of the college’s new residences, Kalperis and Chu halls, at 65 and 55 Campus Ave. respectively.

By diversifying furnishings in the common spaces, “we were trying to mix together single users, smaller groups, and larger groups,” says Pam Wichroski, the college’s director of capital planning and construction.

A mix of furniture, an inventive floor plan, and an cozy fireplace (out of sight around a corner) combine to make the Chu Hall lobby an attractive gathering spot. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

That’s an example of interior design as a means of shaping interactions — a kind of social engineering long understood at �ֲ���ý, where residential life is integral to the educational mission.

Providing common spaces, and furniture, that suit different kinds of people is a way to get those people talking to and learning from each other.

“The principles of inclusivity, diversity, and community were embedded into the design and the planning process” for the new dorms, says Philip Chen, principal architect on the project for Ann Beha Architects.

Beha surveyed students about their housing experiences and preferences at the beginning of planning, Chen says. Eighty-four percent of respondents ranked “living with friends” as the first or second consideration in making their housing choices. “So we knew that building community was a key goal for this project.”

Diverse furniture is one approach to healthy res life, but it’s not the only one. Here’s a closer look at interior design concepts that �ֲ���ý and project designer Ann Beha Architects emphasized at Kalperis and Chu.

Campus crossroads

The presence of the College Store and Post & Print in Kalperis Hall brings a new density of �ֲ���ý people to the south edge of campus. Here, arriving members and families of the Class of 2020 stock up at the store in late August 2016. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

The boldest stroke of social engineering in the new dorms was the relocation of the College Store and Post & Print (the former Office Services) to the first floor of Kalperis Hall, adjacent to a welcoming lobby with mixed seating and a fireplace.

This arrangement echoes a national trend on residential campuses, says architect Chen: “vertical housing” that integrates ground-floor retail space with housing above. In �ֲ���ý’ case, he notes, “the rise of online shopping has made packaging and postal services a primary campus function.”

Now a state-of-the-art handling center for the avalanche of packages that arrives daily for students, “Post & Print along with the Campus Store will create a daily hub of activity and student traffic.”

And not just students. The store and P&P are broadly useful businesses that, sooner or later, will draw in virtually everyone on campus — and they’re open to the general public, too.

“That whole area is becoming a bit more of a center for campus, or least is more heavily traveled than it has been in the past,” says Matt Phillips ’17 of Acton, Mass., residence coordinator for Chu Hall. “So it’s really nice to have lots of different spaces where people can hang out, even if you don’t live in the dorms.”

How suite they aren’t: Singles and doubles

In planning the new dorms, “we spent quite a bit of time looking at the mix of student rooms on campus,” says Pam Wichroski, �ֲ���ý’ director of capital planning and construction.

The result is an echo, if not a replica, of a concept employed at 280 College Street. In that residence, and now Kalperis and Chu, the once-trendy notion of suites gave way to a more outward-facing model: “We ended up mixing singles and doubles, grouped in clusters that are broken up with common areas,” Wichroski says.

Isabella Del Priore ’19 of Cos Cob, Conn., poses for a portrait in her fourth-floor room in Kalperis Hall. “It really feels like a community. Having the kitchen close by is nice, and all my friends come up here to hang out.” (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

That allows friends to lodge near each other while encouraging them to socialize in common areas, instead of holing up behind closed doors. The clusters at Chu and Kalperis include first-year centers on the second floor of each dorm.

Lounge where?

The residence at 280 College laid important groundwork for Kalperis and Chu halls in other ways. Taking the older residence as a baseline, student input on the new dorms suggested allocating less space for student bedrooms and applying the savings to common areas.

They also made clear that what they want in their living space is flexibility — a diversity of environments to meet a diversity of learning and socializing styles.

For instance, “students want to study in groups, and they want to study by themselves,” says Erin Foster Zsiga, head of residential life. “They need complete quiet so they’re not distracted, and they need to be around people.”

In short, they wanted variety and they got it. “One of the things that’s really interesting is the fact that there are so many different common areas,” says Matt Phillips.

Taken in August shortly before students moved into Kalperis Hall, this lounge serves a cluster of student rooms. Note the mixed furniture — a table and chairs at rear, and soft furniture for TV viewing — and the glass walls, which afford what’s called “flow-by quality.” (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

There’s a common space for every personality and purpose. Spaces range in size from intimate nooks, like diner booths, to the Treehouse, the sprawling fourth-floor lounge in Kalperis Hall that’s like a family rec room writ large.

Sofas and banquettes and chairs, oh my

The wooden storage units in this Chu Hall student room can take two forms: stacked to function as bureaus, as shown, and separated into two-drawer units that slide under the beds. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Planning for the new residences included “exhaustive furniture testing” with students, Foster Zsiga says.

Flexibility was the watchword for furniture, too — as applied both to the mix of items within rooms, and to specific models like the bedroom storage bins that can live either under the bed or stacked up, like a little bureau.

The result is mind-boggling furniture diversity. (If only the tribes of humanity could co-exist so peacefully and productively.) In study areas, for instance, large rectangular tables accommodate large groups and small round ones are ready for more intimate gatherings. “The furniture sends a signal that this is a study space for multiple people,” says Foster Zsiga, alluding to those six-seat tables for one in the 280 College study rooms.

Large lounges bring furniture diversity to its ultimate. In the Treehouse, easy chairs and a sofa offer an invitation to bliss out while gazing into the gas fireplace. Away from the fireplace, there are smaller groupings of soft furniture for tête-à-têtes.

Near the kitchen, there’s a farmhouse table with benches for studying or snacking. In the kitchen itself, a long counter with stools affords a great view toward Chu Hall.

And the kitchen at Chu, like the one in Smith Hall’s newly renovated basement, boasts what appears to be a new �ֲ���ý trend in public furniture: long banquettes with little tables that, restaurant-like, can be used by solo diners or pushed together for groups. Flexibility!

Hello? Goodbye? Flow-by!

Associate Dean of Students James Reese named another formative concept built into 280 College. “Flow-by quality” refers to a kind of visual access to a room that allows students to reconnoiter before committing themselves to entering.

Wenkai Han ’17 of Beijing, China, works on his resume in a “niche” in Chu Hall. Spaces like this have “flow-by ” quality: A student can watch any social action nearby with an easy choice of joining or not. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Common spaces that succeed socially, Reese explains, are “positioned such that a person can walk by and easily view in to see who is there, while also being able to walk away naturally.” New arrivals are spared the awkwardness of entering a space only to leave because they don’t know anyone.

Flow-by abounds in Kalperis and Chu. Lounges are situated near heavily trafficked areas like stairwells and corridor junctions. Study areas have doors and even walls with a lot of glass. A few brilliantly achieve flow-by via graphics, adapted from decades-old �ֲ���ý Manufacturing Co. textile designs, applied to the glass walls that make it easier to see in than out.

Again, the Treehouse may be the crowning example of flow-by. It’s a destination that’s also a thoroughfare, with an adjoining TV room and elevator at one end, a kitchen and access to sleeping quarters at the other, and the dorm’s laundry room midway along. The Treehouse is the place to be — but when it’s not, there are always other places to go.

And a twist on the concept is a booth-like niche in the Chu lobby (with a counterpart in the Smith Hall basement) that works like flow-by in reverse: The booth allows occupants to watch the social action flow by without committing to either joining or abstaining.

Open kitchens

A variety of seating arrangements, including a long banquette at rear and stools at the counter, accommodate a variety of personalities and activities in the Chu Hall kitchen. This image was taken just days after the first students moved into Chu, in late August 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The kitchen at 280 College has proven to be a little small, Wichroski says, because students tend to stay there to eat. “The dining area is remote from it, and students almost never take their food from the kitchen into the larger living area.”

In contrast, the Kalperis and Chu kitchens are spacious and amply equipped with seating. And, of course, it’s mixed seating: farmhouse tables, banquettes, counters with stools, high-tops.

Kitchen placement, of course, was intentional: The kitchens are adjacent to large lounges in each dorm, but distinct from them. “There’s a nice flow between the two spaces,” says Molly Newton ’11, associate director of residence life.

The kitchens in Kalperis and especially Chu, the larger of the two, are meant to be used by the whole student body. “We really want students to be able to say, ‘These are great vibrant spaces and I want to be part of that,'” says Foster Zsiga.

“Our students want to sit and talk over food, and they want to learn about other cultures over food.”

Seen a couple of weeks before students moved into Kalperis Hall, a fourth-floor eat-in kitchen adjoins, but is distinct from, the Treehouse lounge. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Taken at the unfinished Campus Avenue Field in mid-August, this image shows the concrete channel into which the edge of the GreenFields TX turf would be tucked and secured. At right is the TenCate Ecocept elastic layer, which is unique in North America — at least for now. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

In the new and improved Smith Hall showers, fancy metalwork decorates the drain troughs and a tiled barrier ensures that bathers don't have to stand in each others' runoff. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

A field hockey practice on the new GreenFields TX turf on Campus Avenue Field on Sept. 1, 2016 . (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Field hockey balls on the GreenFields TX turf on Sept. 1, 2016, the second day of practice on the new surface. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

There's no doubt whose this new turf this is. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

We’ve been together 18 months, but now our time’s running out.

Our hearts are heavy. It’s hard not to regret the places we never saw together, the experiences we never had, the pleasures left untried. The things we wanted to tell you about, but couldn’t.

Such as the conversion of Carnegie 225 from tiered to level seating. The new steam pipe between Chase Hall and the Muskie Archives. And the new windows on Chase — 100 new energy-efficient windows.

There’s no doubt whose this new turf this is. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Since March 2014, it has been our pleasure to give you the news of major facilities improvements at �ֲ���ý. But with the new Campus Avenue dorms open and the summer’s three remaining projects virtually complete, it’s time for Campus Construction Update to end this series and return to honest — er, other communications work.

Yet we still have a few intimacies to share with you before we pack up the 8-foot ladder, leave our hard hat and orange safety vest rolled up and stashed behind your couch, and call it a day.

On Wednesday, Aug. 31, the �ֲ���ý field hockey team held its first practice on a newly resurfaced Campus Avenue Field. In fact, it was the first practice in North America for any team on this specific configuration of GreenFields TX turf.

While this acclaimed turf by the Dutch manufacturer GreenFields is in use elsewhere on the continent, �ֲ���ý’ Campus Avenue Field is the only installation employing the proprietary TenCate Ecocept elastic layer — the shock-absorbing layer that underlies the faux grass.

A mixture of recycled rubber and plastic bound with polyurethane, the Ecocept product imparts superior playing qualities and drainage to the turf, says field hockey coach Danielle Ryder.

A field hockey practice on the new GreenFields TX turf on Campus Avenue Field on Sept. 1, 2016 . (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

“It’s a very nice turf in terms of playability and bounce and speed,” she says. “And it’s a very fast turf. That’s going to be really useful when we go play on slower turfs, because we’ll be used to performing fast.”

The TX is also, simply, a consistent surface. It will enable the team to focus exclusively on playing without the distractions from the worn-out AstroTurf that it replaced.

The old turf’s irrigation system — field hockey is played on wet turf — left puddles that would stop the ball dead. There were frayed spots and other irregularities in the playing surface that sent balls flying wildly and tripped players. (The Bobcat emblem in the middle was a particular tripping hazard.)

Most important, Ryder explains, the GreenFields is “physically a lot more forgiving to the players’ bodies. The old turf was really hard to play on.”

The last major task at Campus Avenue Field was completed early this week: fastening the grassy layer in place. This was done by securing the edge of that carpet into a channel cut into a concrete anchor wall that surrounds the field and whose top is flush with ground level.

Panels of the GreenFields TX turf were still being placed on Aug. 17, 2016. Slathered with glue, this tape was used to hold the panels together. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Other than that, the finishing touches were cosmetic — touchups to markings on and around the field. Ryder points out an interesting distinction among the markings: Curved lines, like the shooting circle, are painted on, and straight-line markings are inset and glued into the surface.

That’s because curved seams don’t hold up as well as straight seams.

The renewed field is a tremendous morale boost. “It’s a huge advantage to have a brand-new facility,” Ryder says. “And it’s definitely a vote of confidence.”

The Bobcats make their competitive debut on the new turf in a game vs. Worcester State at 5 p.m. Sept. 6.

“It’s a cathedral,” says rowing coach Peter Steenstra: The boat storage area in the boathouse. The wood on the floor was recovered from �ֲ���ý’ old boathouse for decorative use in the new facility. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Focused on racks: �ֲ���ý’ new boathouse will be the last of the college’s big summer facility projects to cross the finish line.

Rowing coach Peter Steenstra reports that the all-important boat storage racks will be installed during the week of Sept. 12. That date falls two days after the teams’ first practice, and a few weeks past the original installation schedule.

Sideboards from the old boathouse were saved, planed, and resized for reuse in the new boathouse team room, shown here, and in a connecting corridor. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

But the delay is a good thing. The racks are being custom-made for �ֲ���ý and their designer-fabricator, Focus Rack Systems of Nashville, Mich., is taking the time it needs to get them right.

The racks are distinctive in one way, and probably unique in a second way. As noted in previous updates, the first distinction lies in a drawer-like action in the supporting arms that allows the boats to slide out and in for easy storage.

The unique feature? Each rack has three arms that support boats: bow, center, and stern. But the Focus rack’s center arm can be moved along the boat’s length. That’s to accommodate different arrangements of the so-called outriggers, gunwale-mounted fittings that support the oarlocks.

Because outrigger placement varies from boat to boat and the boats are racked upside-down, the movable arm will simplify boat storage in tight quarters and reduce the risk of damaging the delicate craft.

“That’s something they’ve never done, so they’re kind of excited about it,” says Steenstra, who worked with Focus proprietor Paul Smith on the innovation. “It’s the first of its kind.”

We dropped by the boathouse site, by the Androscoggin River in the town of Greene, on Aug. 30. Project management firm Consigli Construction still had a field office there, but the construction fence was gone and the landscaping done: paving stones placed in the parking area, trees and bushes planted, grass seed under a blanket of straw panting for rain.

Painters were finishing up the exterior of �ֲ���ý’ new boathouse on Aug. 30, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

It was gratifying to see that something of the old boathouse lives in the new one: The rustic wainscoting and ceiling trim fabricated from the sideboards of the old boathouse, which was torn down a month ago.

Wainscoting and all, the new boathouse is beautiful, says Steenstra. “Particularly the inside, with the main boat bays,” he says, adding with a laugh, “It’s a cathedral.”

To passers-by, the structure sets the right tone. Set in a rolling field a few hundred yards from a working farm, the boathouse fits its rural setting. “When you’re driving by, you’re going to see what looks to be a very large barn,” Steenstra says. “But get a little closer and you start to realize what it is.”

A grand opening for the boathouse is scheduled for Oct. 29.

The foosball table is ready for action in a Smith Hall Lounge. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Notes from a basement: Back on the sunny shores of Lake Andrews, the first student residents of post-renovation Smith and Wentworth Adams halls have settled in.

Smith will remain mostly empty until the majority of the student body returns to campus this weekend. But 50 or so first-years moved into Adams on Opening Day, Aug. 29, arriving among the 499 members of �ֲ���ý’ Class of 2020.

When it’s complete, this sectional lounging unit in Smith Hall’s basement will have counter seating along the backs of each sofa unit. Imagine the fun to be had with spitballs and popcorn during a binge-viewing session of films by Ingmar Bergman! (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Opening Day came a week after another milestone for the dorms’ renovation: the issuance of the certificate of substantial completion for Smith and Adams by �ֲ���ý, general contractor Langford & Low, and architect Harriman Associates.

As we’ve previously written, the practical effect of substantial completion is that �ֲ���ý assumes authority over the buildings from the general contractor. But as we’ve seen with the Campus Avenue residences, substantial completion and even student occupancy don’t signal the end of work.

At Smith and Adams as at 55 and 65 Campus Ave., workers continue to make tweaks, repairs, and replacements revealed by the punch-list inspection process.

On Aug. 24, when Campus Construction Update stopped by for a look-see, the new lakeside entrance to Wentworth Adams Hall was all but complete, with access-system work to be done and the ceilings awaiting their full complement of tiles.

Completed tasks at Adams included the creation of a first-year study center in the basement; the upgrade of a first-floor suite now occupied by the residence director; and paint and light fixtures that bring new brilliance to the main corridors of the ground-level and street-level floors.

A new study lounge in the renovated basement of Smith Hall. Banquette seating is a design theme in the lounge spaces �ֲ���ý has created this year. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Next door, the transformation of Smith — especially its basement — was striking. The wall colors were on, most furniture in place, and the residence coordinator was already ensconced in her sunny basement abode.

The basement kitchen-lounge was ready for action. The furniture was a mix of formats including mid-sized tables, four-person high-tops with unusual shovel-shaped stools, and, across the aisle in a television lounge, a giant sectional with both sofa and counter seating. It was an elaborate system for lounging.

Down the corridor a large, well-lit study lounge straddled the aisle and, again, was furnished to accommodate all manner of seating preferences — from long banquettes to six-person tables, from paired soft chairs perfect for tête-à-têtes to tall loungers for solo thinkers.

Upstairs in the residential zone, Farnsworth showed off the new shower drains that, for the first time in this venerable building, limit one’s run-off to one’s own stall. (Previously, two stalls shared a drain.)

The individualized shower drains, which required some time to perfect, comprise a trough in each stall equipped with a decorative patterned-metal cover. The stalls are separated by a tiled berm. Hygiene and elegance too.

In the new and improved Smith Hall showers, fancy metalwork decorates the drain troughs and a tiled barrier ensures that bathers don’t have to stand in each others’ runoff. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Looking at the overall project, Farnsworth had nothing but praise for Langford & Low, calling the Portland-based contractor “awesome.” Deadlines were tight: It was key to get the buildings to the point where the city could issue the certificates of occupancy (a precursor to substantial completion), because otherwise �ֲ���ý couldn’t use the buildings.

“They understood the goal of having this work done in time for the return of the students — there was no other place for the students to go.”

“We got everything done that needed to be done in time.”

Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye: Campus Construction Update welcomes your questions and comments about current, past, future, desirable, and imaginary construction at �ֲ���ý. Write to dhubley@bates.edu, putting “Campus Construction” or “Thanks for the memories” in the subject line. Or use the 21st-century commenting system below.

Mixed pavers cover the boathouse parking area. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

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.

Green A-frame barriers demarcate the construction sites along Franklin Street, looking sharp after a paving job on July 12, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Incorporating the College Store and Post & Print, the new student residence at 65 Campus Ave. is shown on Aug. 5, 2016 — just about two years after clearing of the site began. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

55 Campus Ave. on Aug. 5, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Print Office Assistant Amy Saucier at work in Post & Print. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

This seating area is part of the Post & Print mailing and shipping center. The printing office is downstairs. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Tear Down These A-frame Barriers! July has been a thrill ride in the progress of �ֲ���ý College’s new student residences, but a recent development gave us a particular tingle.

Sometime between late afternoon on July 29 and the morning of Aug. 1, project management firm Consigli Construction removed the green A-frame barriers, resembling sawhorses, that had surrounded the 55 and 65 Campus Ave. construction sites since April.

The green A-frame barriers around 65 and 55 Campus Ave. are just a memory. Now if we could only lose the orange barrels. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The removal ended two years of enclosure for those two �ֲ���ý blocks. It also cleared the way for Campus Construction Update to photograph the buildings as they will appear henceforth (or at least until snow banks block the view again).

What was even better was the fact that civilians could once again — did we mention it’s been two years? — stroll the sidewalks on the south side of Campus Ave.

In short, the sites were no longer construction zones. This milestone was affirmed back on July 19, when �ֲ���ý, Consigli, and project designer Ann Beha Architects finalized the Certificate of Substantial Completion for the project.

Attaining substantial completion transferred legal control of the buildings from Consigli to �ֲ���ý. This would seem to justify a brief champagne break. But instead it uncorked a whole lot more work for �ֲ���ý folks, as the college moved two major campus offices into 65 Campus Ave. and oversaw three waves of furniture deliveries to both buildings — the latest on Aug. 2, when the mattresses arrived.

Up until substantial completion, “it was Consigli’s site, and Consigli’s work that we were overseeing,” explains �ֲ���ý project manager Chris Streifel. “Once the buildings became ours and we started moving things in, those were all our players and they required our management.”

All of which, of course, is just a preface to the milestone of milestones: student occupancy. This begins Aug. 19 with the arrival of students who have summered on campus, conducting research with professors or working other �ֲ���ý jobs.

Now closed and all but empty of merchandise, the old College Store, in the basement of Chase Hall, is shown on Aug. 3, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Getting back to those office moves, the College Store closed on July 18 for its shift from Chase Hall to 65 Campus, and Post & Print (formerly Office Services) started its move four days later.

“We really pushed the envelope to get the store and Post & Print in there as early as we could, to give them as much time as possible to work out all the kinks” before the start of school,” says Streifel.

“Consigli worked with us and accommodated us, and did everything they could to make it happen.”

The moves went well, but not flawlessly. In a non-�ֲ���ý project, crews hired by the city of Lewiston were grinding pavement off Campus Avenue just in time for the moves. It was work the �ֲ���ý team had planned for, but having to detour via Central Avenue certainly didn’t help.

In addition, countertops for the cash wrap stations in the store weren’t ready. And the final tests of the building systems, aka commissioning, had revealed that the chilled-water feed for the College Store air conditioning needed to be modified.

“That delayed the startup of air conditioning in there, so that the first day the retail team had to move in, unfortunately, it was very hot,” Streifel says.

Still and all, “I really think that we were successful,” he says. “The moving team did a great job of planning and keeping it as organized as it could be.”

The College Store on July 25. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Centrally located on the first floor of 65 Campus, the College Store held its soft opening on July 25 as planned (with President Clayton Spencer among the first customers). Post & Print, which has spaces on the first floor near the store and in the basement, opened its doors later that week.

The College Store had the greatest volume of stuff to move, but P&P had the heaviest individual items. According to director Laurie Henderson, the 20 major pieces of technology on the manifest included a Xerox J75 color digital press, a Konica high-speed black and white printer, and a new hydraulic cutter that weighs half a ton, was installed by Cote Rigging of Auburn, and replaced P&P’s obsolete 30-year-old hydraulic cutter.

Also: a folder-inserter and an off-line folder, an addresser, a strapper, a sealer, and a wide-format printer that’s used to produce, among other things, student research posters for presentations like the Mount David Summit.

Printing is near and dear to our hearts, but the biggest news to come out of P&P’s move is on the mailing and shipping front, as the new Post & Print will enable students to receive packages and mail at a single point and in a single transaction.

The move consolidated P&P operations to one location, 65 Campus, from three: its labyrinthine basement quarters in Lane Hall and two spaces in Chase Hall, the Package Center and the student mailboxes (whose imminent demise has made ).

This seating area is part of the Post & Print mailing and shipping center. The printing office is downstairs. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Previously, Henderson explains, a student receiving a package would be notified via email, retrieve a package slip from their Chase Hall mailbox, and actually pick up the package at the Package Center. “And if it was a jacket that didn’t fit, they had to go to Lane Hall to ship the package back.”

At the new P&P, getting the goods is a one-stop proposition. “Whether it’s mail, flowers, packages — students will receive an email notification,” says Henderson. “They can simply swipe their ID at the counter. That’ll give us a ticket of items for pickup, and we’ll just pick them” from P&P’s new expanses of bucket and shelf storage.

“They can open their package here and try on the jacket, and if it doesn’t fit, they can go right to the other counter, print out a return label if isn’t already included, put it on the package and return it — done, gone.”

For P&P staff, meanwhile, the new quarters come with marked advantages over the old. Air conditioning is a big gain for the print operation because muggy conditions cause paper to jam in printers and other equipment to be finicky.

Henderson adds, “It’s great to have all our staff together in one location.”

Both P&P and the store will benefit from improved public visibility in the new location. Henderson says that students sometimes got through two or three years at �ֲ���ý without ever learning that Office Services was in the basement of Lane. (Those were the lucky students who actually went to a store and tried on the jackets that they bought.)

A view into the 65 Campus kitchen from the Treehouse. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

And the Days Dwindle Down: Consigli’s portable field office will likely be yanked out of its little patch of woods on Bardwell Street and trucked away by mid-August, but the company will have a presence at �ֲ���ý for months to come.

Consigli is still supervising subcontractors as they fix problems identified during punch listing and commissioning — although by this point, Streifel says, that work “is pretty sparse.”

But there remain countless administrative details to deal with. “Even though the buildings are basically done and they look ready,” Streifel says, “there’s a tremendous amount of closeout work, as we call it, that has to be done. That will probably stretch well into the fall.”

“Right now it’s significant, but six or eight weeks down the road, it’ll start to be a little bit more manageable. There’s a lot of boxes to check, a lot of lists to manage, a lot of documentation to be developed.

“I don’t feel like we’re at the end at all. I know we’ve reached some significant milestones, but there’s a lot to do to make sure it’s closed out cleanly.”

So closing-out is one definition of “done” for this phase of the Campus Life Project. Then there’s “done” in the emotional sense — a feeling foreshadowed the first time we strolled the new Campus Avenue sidewalk on our noontime meander.

For Streifel, what will be the emotional “done”? He says, “When the students start to move in, that’s when it’s really done, as done as done can be.”

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 “I liked the green A-frame barriers” in the subject line. Or use the 21st-century commenting system below.

A paving crew from St. Laurent and Sons Excavation interacts with traffic and each other at the intersection of Campus and Central avenues on July 19, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The Campus Avenue residences received temporary building numbers during the week of July 4, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

During a sewer replacement project on Campus Avenue for the city of Lewiston, St. Laurent & Sons Excavation employees place a trench box on July 1. The heavy metal shield protects workers in case the sides of the trench collapse. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Shown here on June 30, 2016, St. Laurent & Sons Excavation will be replacing city sewers and repaving Campus Avenue during most of July. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The Post & Print center, at 65 Campus Ave., shown on June 30, 2016. The wood on the sawhorses at left and the service counter at the rear is red oak, a decorative element much in evidence at 55 and 65 Campus. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The rear entrance to 65 Campus Ave. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Getting Here From There Dept.: Campus Avenue along the �ֲ���ý block will be more of an obstacle than a thoroughfare this month as old brick sewer pipes are replaced with green PVC units.

Shown here on June 30, 2016, St. Laurent & Sons Excavation will be replacing city sewers and repaving Campus Avenue during most of July. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Begun in late June, the project has entailed full closures of most of Campus Avenue and parts of Nichols, Bardwell, and Franklin streets, and will last most of July.

Engaged by the city of Lewiston, the local firm St. Laurent & Sons Excavation is laying the sewerage block by block, starting at Nichols (home of �ֲ���ý Communications Plaza and the Campus Construction Update penthouse) and heading east to Central Avenue.

The word at press time is that the work at �ֲ���ý will culminate during the week of the 18th, as St. Laurent grinds off the remaining pavement from College Street to Central Avenue, levels the subsurface (or “shims” it, as the pros say. That will take a lot of folded napkins!), and lays new asphalt.

Building excitement: On the grounds of the new student residence at 55 Campus Ave., recent weeks have shown us a rerun of the transformation that took place at 65 Campus in April and May.

A landscaper at 55 Campus Ave. lugs turf, at lower left, while in the background a mason cuts bricks for a walkway next to the building. The image was taken on June 30, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

As recently as May, the residential hall at 55 was a gleaming jewel surrounded by rutted mud, roaring cherry pickers, and construction debris. Now, countless hours of labor later, brave young trees are waving in the breeze, sprinklers are keeping the new grass happy, masons are sprawled on the ground cleaning freshly laid brick walkways, and new lighting is ready to show it all off.

“The difference the landscaping has made in how those buildings look is just phenomenal,” says Chris Streifel, �ֲ���ý’ project manager for the construction of the two residences.

The transformation of those dorms that form the first phase of �ֲ���ý’ Campus Life Project took place for all the world to see. But there will be only a select few witnesses when another crucial milestone in the project is reached, toward the end of July.

That’s when Consigli Construction will hand authority over the new residences to �ֲ���ý.

The Campus Avenue residences received temporary building numbers during the week of July 4, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The college, Consigli, and project architect Ann Beha Architects will formalize that handover with a document called a Certificate of Substantial Completion — “substantial completion” being the point where the governing municipality, through a Certificate of Occupancy, has documented that a building is safe, habitable, and ready to give its owner beneficial use.

Attaining substantial completion also activates the warranties on a project, for both equipment and the construction itself.

So what will happen between now, and then the certification of substantial completion in a few weeks, and finally the time in August when the first students occupy their rooms?

Moving two deeply rooted campus operations looms large on the checklist. On July 18 —the same week St. Laurent will be repaving Campus Avenue, Streifel notes wryly — the College Store will start its move from the Chase Hall basement into its new home on the first floor of 65 Campus Ave. It’s hoped that the store can open — a “soft opening,” as they say — on the 25th.

The future location of the College Store, shown on June 30, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Formerly known as Office Services, Post & Print will begin its three-day move from Lane Hall to 65 Campus on July 22. (Campus Construction Update will cover that move in a forthcoming column.)

A tour of 65 Campus in late June revealed a College Store already looking a lot like itself — a thicket of stylish new shelves, tables, clothing racks, display cases and panels, and other furnishings eagerly awaiting merchandise.

The displays are a mixture of snazzy black and white pre-fab units and built-in items, primarily in the red oak that is a decorative motif in both new residences, made to order by Windham Millwork of Windham, Maine.

College Store staff have been preparing for the move for months. One objective has been simply to minimize the amount of merchandise that will need to be packed, transported, and displayed in the new space.

Among other measures, the store has deferred restocking some items, explained Gail St. Pierre, who succeeded Sarah Potter ’77 as store director in February. A sale taking place through July 15 will further lighten the load.

Blanchette Moving & Storage of Lewiston will do the heavy lifting the week of the 18th. Blanchette is a familiar presence on campus — especially this year, as renovations of Smith and Adams halls, as well as other spaces, have dislocated a lot of furniture. (The firm will move Post & Print, too.)

Blanchette, said St. Pierre, will “aid us in packing totes, transporting all of our products across the street, unloading, and possibly aiding us in setting up the sales floor as well.

“It’s a really big undertaking, so it’s great to have those extra hands.” How big? In conjunction with an inventory conducted in late June, St. Pierre and staff got a start on packing up office supplies and art supplies. Just the art supplies, she estimated, filled 20 totes, i.e., plastic packing cases.

The Post & Print center, at 65 Campus Ave., shown on June 30, 2016. The wood on the sawhorses at left and the service counter at the rear is red oak, a decorative element much in evidence at 55 and 65 Campus. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

St. Pierre noted that the loading dock and receiving area at No. 65 represent a great leap forward in stocking the store. Until now, bringing in deliveries from the old loading dock, opposite Muskie Archives, has meant trekking through the labyrinth that is Chase Hall and then — because the store is in the basement — wrangling boxes of books, glassware, captain’s chairs, etc., down a flight of stairs or into a dumbwaiter.

And of course, St. Pierre added, the College Store staff will appreciate being able to spend much more time above ground in glassy No. 65. “The daylight will be lovely.”

But the move will not conclude one of the busiest periods in the College Store’s history. After the opening in 65 Campus, St. Pierre said, “we’ll start receiving for back to school, then we’ll have our fall back-to-school textbook rush, then we’re going to get ready for Back to �ֲ���ý,” the combined Homecoming and Parents & Family Weekend festivity taking place Oct. 7–9.

“It’ll just keep going and going, which is exciting,” she said. “Perhaps there’ll be a day in October when we’ll take a breath.”

Our June 30 tour revealed Windham Millwork craftsmen installing such features as a long counter for preparing shipments — features that, as Streifel explained, would be Windham Millwork’s last work on the project.

Sedge and barren strawberry are among the plants growing in a rain garden at 65 Campus Ave. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

A few minutes later, a supervisor for shelving purveyor Pipp Mobile Storage Systems of Walker, Mich., buttonholed Streifel to request a final inspection of that company’s work.

In short, the construction work on 55 and 65 Campus Ave. is winding down.

The close-inspection process known as punch-listing “is essentially done” in both buildings, Streifel says. “Some final walk-throughs will need to take place.”

At No. 55, commissioning — the testing of building systems such as electrical, plumbing, temperature control, etc. — is nearly finished. Incorporating both heating and cooling in the same system, temperature control is the last to be tested. “What they’re doing now is chasing down some loose ends on the heating before they flip it over to the cooling system,” Streifel explains.

What else? Washers and driers for the residence laundries are scheduled to appear during the week of July 11, with vending machines to follow soon thereafter. Office furniture, from Boston-based Red Thread Spaces, will also come in mid-to-late July.

New curbs, plantings, sidewalk, lighting, and brick paving at 55 Campus Ave. on June 30, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

More to the point, perhaps, hundreds of pieces of furniture for the students’ rooms will arrive in August — the last furniture to be moved in. Streifel placed the order in April with a custom fabricator, New England Woodcraft of Forest Dale, Vt., which has worked with �ֲ���ý in the past.

The dorms will sleep a total of 243 students, but allowing for spare pieces (and easier arithmetic), there will be 250 units each of a three-part bed, a table, a chair, and a two-module dresser set that can be stacked or placed side by side under a bed. So 1,000 units, not accounting for the multiple bed parts, etc.

And that’s why it’s the last furniture to be delivered: There’s simply too much of it to try to coordinate with other logistical operations.

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 “Can you shim up the roadway like your sister Kate?” in the subject line. Or use the 21st-century commenting system below.

At rear, recent landscaping is evident at 55 Campus Ave. on June 30, 2016. The loader at center is carrying strips of turf. Campus Avenue is closed for sewer replacement. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Newly planted “Elf” mountain laurels are happy to have their toes in the ground at 65 Campus Ave. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

People with poles poke holes in the soil and their teammates set seedlings into the holes — over and over and over again, because there are 6,000 seedlings, aka plugs, to be planted.

The week before Commencement, in a rain garden at 65 Campus Ave., employees of Gammon Landscape Nursery, of Auburn, are planting ground cover: seedlings of grasslike Pennsylvania sedge and something called barren strawberry, which isn’t a strawberry at all but, perhaps trying to compensate, does produce nice yellow flowers. (The seedlings are grown in containers that mold their roots into a plug shape — hence “plugs.”)

New plantings at 65 Campus Ave. on May 31, 2016. Note the ground cover at left — some 6,000 barren strawberry and sedge plants covering a storm runoff site. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Talk about contrasting perspectives: You could be a Gammon employee, planting plugs all day and, probably, dreaming of them all night.

Or you could be Campus Construction Update, strolling past 65 Campus Ave. one fine day and marveling at the “instantaneous” transformation of a dirt-topped drainage area into a verdant garden.

That sense of blink-of-an-eye transformation — based, of course, on hard work that probably didn’t feel so speedy to the people performing it — prevailed during May on the grounds of the new Campus Life Project residences, especially 65 Campus Ave.

Site work unrolled like a time-lapse film: new curbing replaced old, light poles popped up, pavements appeared in a cloud of smoke, topsoil flowed into graceful contours, and where did all the greenery come from?

In addition to the ground cover, Gammon planted some 200 trees and shrubs at 65 Campus. Among the shrubs are a semi-dwarf variety of mountain laurel; serviceberry, whose fruits are popular with birds; and fothergilla, which makes spiky white flowers and brilliant fall foliage ranging from yellow to scarlet.

Paid for in part by a $1,205 donation from the Class of 1960, the trees include sugar maples, white pines, blackgum, and Turkish filbert. There are also white and red oaks — the latter being an especially appropriate choice since red oak is prevalent as a wall covering and trim in both 55 and 65 Campus.

The lobby at 65 Campus Ave. on May 31, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

A view into Post and Print on May 31, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The landscaped parking lot behind 65 Campus Ave. on May 31, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Newly planted "Elf" mountain laurels are happy to have their toes in the ground at 65 Campus Ave. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

New plantings at 65 Campus Ave. on May 31, 2016. Note the ground cover at left — some 6,000 barren strawberry and sedge plants covering a storm runoff site. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The trees arrived the second week of May. During the third week, on the Campus Avenue side of No. 65, sleek black light poles were erected and a paving crew from Atlantic Landscape started placing asphalt — the base for bricks being laid, even as this is written, in a natty herringbone pattern.

The finish landscaping that has made 65 Campus such an object of fascination throughout May will continue through the first week of June, and then start shifting over to 55, where it will last until mid-July or so.

A new brick walkway at 65 Campus Ave. on May 31, 2016. The shiny stuff in the foreground is Karnak — no relation to Johnny Carson, it’s a sticky dilution of asphalt used to hold bricks in place. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

At 55 Campus, meanwhile, site subcontractor Gendron & Gendron has been busy doing work much like what we saw at 65 in March and April: digging runoff basins, hauling away Jersey barriers, pouring concrete seating walls, setting light bases, placing new curbing, ripping out old sidewalks.

All this amidst a shifting hill-scape of dirt piles in different colors, all of them brown, that will be layered, as we’ve previously explained, in storm drainage features to filter storm runoff.

Inside story: During a recent visit to the lobby of 65 Campus, we took care not to wander onto large patches of floor that were sticky with adhesive awaiting its cover of carpeting.

In the Post and Print area, a carpenter was fastening red-oak trim on a staircase railing. Up on the third floor, a technician for Minuteman Security Technologies was troubleshooting the door-access system.

Setting aside the first floor, future home of the College Store and Post and Print services, much of the interior work remaining at 65 Campus consists of systems testing — aka commissioning, the process of putting mechanical, electrical, telecom, etc., infrastructure through its paces.

For example, in the labyrinth of halls and rooms at the back of the first floor, we noticed a large blue hood in one room. That device, explained project manager Chris Streifel, is used to test the ventilation system, measuring the airflow emitted by each diffuser — that is, air vent.

“You make sure your flows are as they’re supposed to be, and if not, there are dampers in the duct that allow you to adjust the openings,” he explained. The overall goal is to balance the diffuser outputs for the entire ventilation system (a prospect that reminds us of the old joke about leveling a table by trimming its legs).

Punch-listing, the comprehensive quality inspection that, like commissioning, portends the end of a construction project, is essentially complete on the upper floors of No. 65, Streifel says. “They’re really waiting for the first floor and basement.”

A major job on the first floor is to finish fitting the giant sliding doors, custom-made from glass and metal, that will close off the College Store outside of business hours.

Accent lighting in a stairwell at 65 Campus Ave. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

And later this month, Windham Millwork of Windham, Maine, will start to install the millwork it has crafted for the store — the cash-wrap counter, tables, shelving, etc. Windham’s handiwork is already much in evidence, as the firm has created all the red-oak treatments already in place in both buildings.

Appearing in the store at the same time will be the modular retail fixtures, such as clothing racks and other mass-produced displays, that will complete the store’s furnishings.

Over at No. 55, too, the first floor is the site of most of the outstanding work that doesn’t involve testing. Finish work is ongoing in the lobby and, at the rear of the building, in the game room and kitchen, where appliances also await installation.

Punch-listing and commissioning are ongoing at the core of the building — the central sections of each floor where services are concentrated.

End game: An important protocol in the construction industry determines who is in charge of the property being built. During the construction, the general contractor or project construction firm — in this case, Consigli Construction of Portland — has responsibility for and authority over the buildings.

Only when the project is done will the literal owner of the buildings take charge. For 55 and 65 Campus Ave., �ֲ���ý will get the keys at the end of July. And a lot needs to happen between now and then.

“It’s getting exciting, right? To me, it feels like it’s going to be August tomorrow,” Streifel laughed.

While Consigli has kept this project on schedule, Streifel noted that in general, the late stages of a major construction project have their own intrinsic challenges.

Shown on May 31, 2016, workers for Gendron & Gendron build a feature to divert stormwater runoff at 55 Campus Ave. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

When a project is at its height of activity, with many tasks involving many different trades, a hold-up with one job just means that you shift the focus elsewhere while the problem is rectified, Streifel explained.

“We’ll hold off over here, and start work over there while we figure that out. There are different ways of absorbing those speed bumps, which are always part of this process.”

“But once you get near the end,” he said, “you don’t have that luxury anymore.” With fewer and fewer things on the list, a hang-up with any one of them has a greater potential to stall the whole works.

And then there’s summer, which gives with one hand and takes away with the other. For sure, nice days make it easy to do outdoor work (although the recent lack of rain has done no favors for the barren strawberries and the blackgum trees).

But summer is also the construction industry’s busy season, said Streifel, and “we’re competing more and more now against other jobs around the state.” With a limited pool of construction workers in Maine — a pool that has not regained its pre-recession numbers — the availability of those workers is precious.

“So each and every day we get folks on the job, it’s more and more important to make good use of them, because they’re being pulled in a lot of different directions,” Streifel said.

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 “Perhaps trying to compensate” in the subject line. Or use the 21st-century commenting system below.

Brief closures of Campus Avenue during April and May 2016 for site work are diverting traffic onto Franklin Street. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The Jersey barriers and fence were on the way out and Gendron & Gendron was doing site work at 65 Campus on April 15, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

A fourth-floor door at 65 Campus Ave. on April 26, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

1. setting spiffy new granite curbing, which has already been completed between Franklin Street and Central Avenue;
2. rebuilding the asphalt public sidewalks around the project;
3. installing steps and walls, including walls that will enclose a gas grill at each building and granite seating walls reminiscent of the cuboid benches on Alumni Walk;
4. grading the ground surface — no mean feat considering the deep ruts carved into the mud by lifts and other heavy equipment during the warm winter;
5. and creating two dozen or so drainage features that will handle storm runoff.

55 Campus Ave. seen through April blossoms from a second-floor window at Carnegie Science. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Two dimensions of site work at 65 Campus Ave. on April 25, 2016: plastic sheeting at left that will guide moisture away from the foundation; and a new wall and steps. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The old and the new: Remnants of an asphalt sidewalk are heaped in front of new granite curbs on April 27, 2015. In the background is 55 Campus Ave. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

A fourth-floor double, cleaned and punch-listed — as evidenced by the flecks of blue tape — at 65 Campus Ave. on April 26, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

A rain garden seen from the second floor of 65 Campus Ave. on April 26, 2016. The plastic sheeting will divert runoff away from the foundation. The concrete cylinders at left are bases for light poles. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Behind a seating wall, a surveyor (top) works at 65 Campus Ave. on April 25, 2016. The cylindrical projections are light-pole bases. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

The College Store’s textbook area, photographed in 65 Campus Ave. on April 26, 2016. Note the mellow red-oak veneer, a motif throughout 65 Campus, and the attractive light fixtures. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Construction workers on lifts, like this window technician photographed at 55 Campus Ave. on April 15, were a dwindling breed at �ֲ���ý during spring 2015. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

Last tan standing: Linoleum at attention in the Office Services’ mail and printing area — to be known as Post & Print — in the basement of 65 Campus Ave. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)

65 Campus Ave. on April 27, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ���ý College)