2008 Woodie Awards
Fine Arts Building Years Away
By: Emily Howland
Issue date: 3/24/06 Section: News
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Despite a sped-up planning process, the dream of a new and improved Janet Wallace Fine and Performing Arts Center is still no less than five years away, Classics professor and project manager Andy Overman said. The estimated $65 million project will be a combination of renovation and reconstruction. A lack of funding, in addition to plans for a costly new athletic facility, has stunted progress in the plan to renovate the over forty-year-old Fine Arts building.
In 1992, the project reached the planning phase but funds were cut. The project will return to the design stage this May, over a decade later. No architect has been hired, though the college has a block diagram outlining how the space will be used.
“It is one of the longest art projects I have ever been involved with. It has taken patience,” Fine Arts Chair Ruthann Godollei said.
For decades, Godollei and her colleagues, including professors Beth Cleary and Marjorie Merryman, have tried to persuade the college to replace the Fine Arts Building because it no longer meets proper standards.
“On the surface in some cases [the current facility is] worse than a high school,” Godollei said.
A state-of-the-art facility at its opening in 1964, the building's time has long since passed. For instance, there is no handicapped access to the second floor or basement of the Fine Arts Building. “This is only still legal because we haven't renovated the building,” Godollei said.
Also, Godollei said the Fine Arts Building's 1960s ventilation system is not proper for handling dangerous materials.
“We are not state-of-the art,” Godollei said.
In addition to poor ventilation, the Art building has insufficient space, she said.
In 1992, the project reached the planning phase but funds were cut. The project will return to the design stage this May, over a decade later. No architect has been hired, though the college has a block diagram outlining how the space will be used.
“It is one of the longest art projects I have ever been involved with. It has taken patience,” Fine Arts Chair Ruthann Godollei said.
For decades, Godollei and her colleagues, including professors Beth Cleary and Marjorie Merryman, have tried to persuade the college to replace the Fine Arts Building because it no longer meets proper standards.
“On the surface in some cases [the current facility is] worse than a high school,” Godollei said.
A state-of-the-art facility at its opening in 1964, the building's time has long since passed. For instance, there is no handicapped access to the second floor or basement of the Fine Arts Building. “This is only still legal because we haven't renovated the building,” Godollei said.
Also, Godollei said the Fine Arts Building's 1960s ventilation system is not proper for handling dangerous materials.
“We are not state-of-the art,” Godollei said.
In addition to poor ventilation, the Art building has insufficient space, she said.
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