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June 9, 1997

Summer Construction: Projects under way and in the pipeline

By Francine Tyler

Modular student housing:
Work crews will install temporary modular housing on the future site of College Ten residence halls this summer because of increased demand for housing in the fall, said principal engineer Steve Ayraud. The 20 modular units will house approximately 160 students in dormitory style.

The design process is under way for apartments at College Nine and will continue through the fall, said senior architect Sara Kane of Physical Planning and Construction.

Student Communications System:
Work will continue at the east-side colleges this summer on the second phase of the Student Communications System, said Ayraud. When the system is complete in fall 1999, it will provide improved telephone services to campus residents and connect each student room to CATS's high-speed computer network. The east-side colleges are scheduled to get the improved services this fall. Crews will string cables to student rooms in Cowell, Crown, Merrill, and Stevenson Colleges and Crown/Merrill Apartments this summer, and install networking equipment. They'll also install underground conduits and cable. Porter College--scheduled to go online with the other west-side colleges in fall 1998--will receive the same treatment while it is closed for maintenance.

OPERS fitness center:
The campus Environmental Assessment Group will prepare an environmental impact report this summer for the new fitness center, to be located south of the existing tennis courts in the East Field area. The 10,600-square-foot center is currently being designed by BOORA Architects of Portland, Oregon. Construction is expected to start in January 1998.

Improvements to the Arts:
The second phase of construction on the Improvements to the Arts project began in May and will continue beyond the summer, said senior architect David Tanza. The project includes the construction of an experimental theater at Performing Arts, additional art studios, a 391-seat multimedia classroom/theater, additions to the Music Center, and a music studio for Indonesian gamelan practice and performance. Improvements will also be made to existing spaces in the Performing Arts area and in the Communications Building. The project is expected to be completed in fall 1998, Tanza said.

Bay Tree Bookstore expansion and Graduate Commons:
Architects for the bookstore and Graduate Commons project are currently mapping out the floor plan and designing the general look of the buildings, said senior architect Bret Caton of Physical Planning and Construction. Detailed design planning will take place through the summer and into the fall.

Construction on the 6,600-square-foot commons and 30,000 square-foot bookstore expansion is expected to begin in the summer of 1998, Caton said. Current design plans have sited the commons near the Upper Quarry entrance and the bookstore expansion across the parking lot from the existing bookstore, with a pedestrian plaza in between. The site will retain some short-term parking and the existing shuttle stop, Caton said.

Porter College door project:
Nearly all the doors in Porter College residences will either get an upgrade in equipment or be replaced over the summer, said Leon Waller, a local architect who is managing the project. Two dozen mostly outside-entry doors will be fitted with a computerized card-access system, allowing Porter administration to program automatic locking and unlocking. Porter students will gain entry with their student identification cards, which will be implanted with computer chips. Campus administrators hope to expand the system to the other colleges in the future, Waller said.


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