The Evolving Campus
The Office of Design,
Planning, and Construction held a facilities projects update in Collis
Common Ground last month to share current and upcoming construction planned for
the College. On display were renderings of new buildings, maps of the how the
campus will look when construction is complete, and even a hands-on
demonstration of the new, energy-efficient, heat-recovery drain system.
 A perspective rendering of the Class of 1953 Commons dining hall
(viewed from the south).
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The system, which uses copper tubing to recover heat from wastewater to
cheaply heat clean water, is currently installed in the Fahey, McLane, and
McLaughlin residence halls, and will be installed in the soon-to-be-renovated
Hitchcock and New Hampshire residence halls. Energy-saving techniques like this
one are part of what allows the new construction on campus to be certified by
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), administered by the
United States Green Building Council. The heat-recovery system costs more to
install, explained Woody Eckels, director of residential operations, “but in
seven or eight years, the system should pay for itself in savings.”
Also on hand to talk about improvements to the campus was Cynthia
Crutchfield, director of operations and facilities for athletics and
recreation. Athletics is gaining a number of new facilities, including the
Floren Varsity House, scheduled to open this fall, a renovated Red Rolfe
Field baseball stadium, and the new Burnham Soccer field and its nearby team
facility, which will be shared by the soccer and lacrosse teams. Burnham Field,
surfaced with natural grass, is already in use by the soccer team and seats
1,300.
Dining facilities at the College are also in for an overhaul, according to
Associate Provost Mary Gorman. Where Thayer Dining hall currently stands, a new
Thayer will go up. Although designs are still in the conceptual phase, Gorman
explained that the plan currently calls for a smaller footprint, creating a
less congested, more pedestrian-friendly courtyard in front of the building,
but with the same capacity to seat 750 and the same variety of dining options.
On the north end of campus, the Class of 1953 Commons dining hall will seat 250
and offer dining on a south-facing terrace.
Planned for the north end of campus is the Class of 1978 Life Sciences
Center (see related story),
which will update and expand essential teaching and research laboratory space.
The facility will house Dartmouth’s Department of Biological Sciences,
and serve as a model of sustainable construction.
At the southern end of the campus, where Clement Hall and Brewster
International House currently stand, a Visual Arts Center is planned. Although
planning is in the early stages, the designers envision it as a home for the
Departments of Studio
Art and Film and
Television Studies. The new facility will include a replacement for the
Loew Theater, and free up needed space in the Hopkins Center for the music and drama
departments.
Behind the care and planning that has gone into each individual new building
or renovation is a set of master planning principles, explained Jack Wilson,
associate director of planning. “We started with the principles of
‘preservation’ and ‘connection,’ and updated those with the ideas of
‘renewal’ and ‘change’. We want to preserve what’s good, but we also have the
constant need to renew and change in response to programming needs.”
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