{"id":141982,"date":"2021-09-29T07:56:06","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T11:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=141982"},"modified":"2026-02-19T09:31:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:31:44","slug":"campus-construction-update-sept-30-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2021\/09\/29\/campus-construction-update-sept-30-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus Construction Update: Sept. 30, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The goals of a construction project tend to be functional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re often aesthetic, too \u2014 sometimes with poorer outcomes, but often with happy ones when, like Bates, you plan and invest your resources thoughtfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, construction projects create changes in myriad dimensions beyond those two. And Campus Construction Update is interested in all the ways a construction project may participate in its surroundings. But one that we find especially intriguing is also, because it\u2019s so subjective, one of the least practical and most difficult to address: the effects on remembrance and sense of place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"The

The object of a yearlong major renovation, Dana Chemistry Hall is shown from Alumni Walk on a brilliant late-September morning. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"A

A view toward Hedge Hall from the Dana attic. Staging is in place for utility rough-ins. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Note

Note the trenches for subfloor utilities in this former mechanical space on the first floor of Dana Chemistry Hall. This area will eventually be divided between a kitchenette\/office and mechanical space. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Formerly

Formerly a secure area for storing chemicals, this room will become a student lounge and tutoring area. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"This

This second-story space in Dana will become an active-learning classroom, one of three on that floor. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"These

These hangers in the Dana Hall basement will support new overhead pipes, ducts, conduits, etc. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Formerly

Formerly a lab, this expanse on Dana’s second floor will be divided between two large, light-filled classrooms. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Consigli

Consigli Construction\u2019s corporate values are reflected in signage at the gate to the Dana Chemistry Hall work site. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"The

The coarsely textured material is fireproofing newly sprayed onto floor structure in Dana Chemistry Hall. The existing electrical equipment has plenty of life left in it and won’t be replaced during the current (pardon the pun) renovation. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Holes

Holes where a restroom used to be in Dana Chemistry Hall. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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Think of the built environments that appear in your dreams. Or of the buildings you pass by daily and don’t notice, versus the ones that are long gone but unforgettable. We aren\u2019t philosophers (in case you hadn\u2019t noticed), but it\u2019s hard not to wonder at a weird similarity between solid structures and memories \u2014 both can seem so real and inhabitable, and yet are ultimately so ephemeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar topic came up the other day as we chatted with Chris Streifel, a project manager for Bates Facility Services, about one of his top priorities, the renovation of Dana Chemistry Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prep for the renovation included a years-long inventory of the building\u2019s contents and a plan for the disposition of all the supplies and equipment \u2014 for instance, what would go to the new Bonney Science Center<\/a> versus what would go into an appropriate waste stream for no-longer-needed chemicals. (Or into Campus Construction Update\u2019s basement for our TikTok Frankenstein<\/em> tribute.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the inventory took place in Dana\u2019s so-called attic, where stuff was stashed in storage areas amidst the air-handling machinery that dominated the fourth-floor space. Now that attic has been transformed \u2014 emptied and stripped down to bare wood, then lined with new insulation and wallboard, and now awaiting utility hookups and a new generation of HVAC equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jars
Once used in Dana Chemistry Hall, these jars and bottles for chemicals now live in a second-floor lab in the Bonney Science Center. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a remarkable change from two years ago,\u201d said Streifel. \u201cThere\u2019s a few of us who get that feeling walking through there,\u201d a certain resonance of the old amidst the new \u2014 \u201chaving worked through all of that stuff that had been stored for decades, stuff that was stored short-term, stuff that should\u2019ve never been stored up there, and all of the old equipment and everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWatching those things progressively vanish was interesting. To see the progress there now is really kind of a strange thing. Every now and then you see a little vestige of what used to be mixed up with a hint of what\u2019s yet to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until the archaeologists declare otherwise, though, the reinvention of Dana will take no breaks for history or remembrance. Indeed, technicians for various subcontractors are already in the attic roughing in MEP connections \u2014 mechanical, electrical, plumbing. Soon a self-leveling cementitious compound will be applied to pave the way, so to speak, for future flooring, and the crew from Roland\u2019s Drywall will be erecting partition walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Streifel expects the installation of that new HVAC gear to begin by mid-October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One level down, Dana\u2019s third floor is sealed in plastic while folks from Abatement Professionals of Westbrook, Maine, remove hazardous materials. That should be done by the second week of October, and will conclude abatement work for this project.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Room
Room 119, now with 100 percent less raked seating. The blue pipes barely visible in the trenches will carry discarded chemicals away for proper disposal. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Meanwhile, progress on the first and second floors is showing how functional, aesthetic, and pedagogical goals for the Dana makeover will play out. Demolition is at, or past, the stage of tearing down walls, and the slow pivot from destruction to construction is beginning. Streifel said that the two floors are about on a par in terms of progress, but appearances are deceptive, just because there has been more to do on the bottom floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major issue is that the first floor, entered from the outside from Alumni Walk, is actually the building\u2019s ground floor (there is also a small basement beneath that). On the upper stories, pipes that need to run below floor level, such as drainage for wastewater or used chemicals, can be hung from the ceiling of the level below. But on the first floor, those pipes must be laid in trenches cut into the concrete floor slab and the soil beneath it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All those trenches made a dramatic impression during our visit on Sept. 27, but they\u2019ll soon be filled in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another first-floor wrinkle involves Room 119. A former lecture hall, 119 previously had tiered seating, but that feature has been rendered obsolete by the advent of the hands-on, student-centered pedagogical approach called active learning<\/a>, and consequently by less \u201csage on the stage\u201d style lecturing. So that floor couldn\u2019t be trenched until after it was flattened. (At least, for once, it was a floor that was leveled, and not a playing field.)<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Formerly
Formerly a lab, this expanse on Dana’s second floor will be divided between two large, light-filled classrooms. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

With fewer walls still standing and none of those distracting trenches running all over the place, the second floor provides a clearer sense of the improved flow and transparency that\u2019s central to the Dana renovation. For instance, back in the day, anyone using the main entrance from the Historic Quad was greeted by walls and restrooms. This was handy if you needed a restroom or, in the case of the walls, something to bang your head against. But otherwise it gave a poor impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the new Dana, when you enter that front door, what greets you will be a nice welcoming hunk of space \u2014the new, more commodious core of Dana. To your left and right you\u2019ll see entrances into generously fenestrated, 48-seat active learning classrooms, with a smaller one to the rear. Restrooms throughout the building, meanwhile, will be relocated off to the side, closer to the elevator. (And there will be twice as many of them, they\u2019ll have better soundproofing than before, and they will be ADA compliant.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On both levels, Streifel explained, once the space is cleared out and cleaned up, that same kind of flooring compound will be poured. That\u2019s likely to happen in the next week or two. And then wall construction will start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, Streifel is pleased by Dana\u2019s progress since July, especially \u201cgiven the uncertainties of a renovation project of this magnitude. And particularly this phase of it, the demolition phase,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The
The Dana Chemistry construction site seen from the Alumni Walk approach to Hedge Hall. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of unknowns as you start digging into walls and taking things down in a building from this era. Obviously, we have concerns from a hazardous material standpoint and that’s gone very smoothly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re almost exactly where we wanted to be from a schedule perspective. A few little hiccups here and there, but we’ve been able to roll with what we found. So, largely everything’s going really well. And I think that the team is strong and got us off to a good start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added, \u201cwe\u2019re in that blissful kind of stage where things are, A, fortunately going pretty well; and B, it’s pretty simple work right now. We only have two or three contractors heavily onsite as opposed to the 10 or 15 that’ll be there in another few months. It’ll get a little more complicated then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we talk?<\/strong> Campus Construction Update loves to hear from you. Please send your questions, comments, and dream narratives about current, past, and future construction at Bates College to dhubley@bates.edu<\/em><\/a>, with “Campus Construction” or “Who\u2019s playing Igor in that TikTok?” in the subject line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Campus Construction Update is interested in all the ways a construction project influences people \u2014 but especially intriguing is how construction affects memory and sense of place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":141983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[11009],"tags":[1932,10763,12269,7765],"class_list":["post-141982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-college","tag-campus-construction-updates","tag-chemistry","tag-dana-hall","tag-science-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141982"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172037,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141982\/revisions\/172037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}