Two prominent buildings on Binghamton University’s campus will soon see renovations and reconstruction aimed at improving their appearances and increasing their functions.
Beginning in May 2010, the Lecture Hall is going to undergo a transformation, which will be completed in time for the upcoming fall 2010 semester, and the basement of the Couper Administration Building, home to the Binghamton University Police Department, will also undergo ample renovations.
According to Karen Fennie, spokeswoman for Physical Facilities, “One of the bigger [construction] projects happening this summer after commencement is work on Lecture Hall, which will be designed to bring in the outside elements.”
These “outside elements” include panels made out of environmentally friendly materials that address the colors of Binghamton University’s seasons, Fennie said.
The initial plans for the revisions will be split into two major phases, which will create “the least amount of impact for students and faculty,” she said.
According to Fennie, the first phase will take place in the South Concourse (Lecture Halls 1, 2, 3, 12, 13 and 14), which will be unavailable during summer session 2010, from May 17 to July 1. In phase 2, the Northern Concourse, which includes the rest of the classrooms, will be unavailable from July 5 to Aug. 20.
In addition to structural renovations, there will be improvements to the flooring and seating, as well as the inclusion of energy-efficient lighting and technology updates to Lecture Hall 1. Various repairs will also be made to Lecture Hall 2 and 7.
BU Beginnings, the student orientation which usually takes place in Lecture Hall, will have to be relocated for the fall 2010 semester, Fennie said. Orientation relocation spots have yet to be announced.
The upcoming construction will be a follow-up from last summer’s construction on Lecture Hall, which reinstalled flooring for the aisles of Lecture Hall 1 and renovated Lecture Hall 9.
“The whole idea for the project stems from the need to continue to blend critical maintenance with the desire to increase the campus quality of work life and enhance the general environment, both indoors and outdoors,” reads the BU Web site.
The basement of the Couper Administration Building will undergo construction set to yield a new dispatch, office, meeting and conference rooms and interview area to be utilized by the University police.
“We are currently working with all of our components/offices combined into one big room,” said Lt. Madeline Bay of University Police Services. “It’s very crowded … the biggest inconvenience [of the construction] … is that our dispatch/desk officers no longer have face-to-face communication to anyone that comes to our window.”
Despite inconveniences during construction, the officers are looking forward to the benefits of the new facilities.
“[New secure support rooms] will have more privacy and give the victims a sense of security, knowing they can have a better sense of anonymity from what we have to work with now,” Bay said. “We will also be able to keep them [the victims] further away from defendants/arrestees.”
The construction on the basement of the Couper Administration Building is scheduled to be completed by December 2010.