Through two independent projects, the University’s School of Music and Dance and College of Education are working to create a new entrance to the southwest corner of campus. Though both schools are excited about the projects, the construction has created difficulties for students and staff alike.
Both schools are simultaneously building new facilities and renovating existing structures at the collective cost of about $67 million, creating space constraints for class scheduling and administrative offices.
The music school is building new practice rooms around Beall Concert Hall that will double the size of the building. That, coupled with the renovation, will cost between $18 million and $19 million, said Janet Stewart, the music school’s building manager.
The two main construction sites sandwich Beall Concert Hall, with the new practice rooms coming up on the east side of the hall and the new education complex being built to the northwest.
The majority of the music school’s administrative offices have been temporarily relocated to the nearby Alder Building, while the rest of the faculty and administration squeeze together into the offices in the music building that are not in construction areas.
Stewart said the construction has not inhibited the school from holding great concerts and being able to teach the students – it’s just made the process harder.
“Nothing in terms of construction has impeded what we (have) been living with for the last 30 years,” Stewart said. “What it has impacted is us getting in and out of the building. It is those issues, the fumes, the construction, the dust … has made it inconvenient.”
The Beall Concert Hall typically has classes and events scheduled from 8 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. Then, from 10:30 p.m. until 1 a.m., the building is reserved for music students only, which has allowed them to work without being bothered by the construction work that goes from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.
Stewart said some of the “difficulties are space constraints in losing a couple smaller classrooms, which has made the scheduling extraordinarily tight.”
The College of Education is building a new facility, named the HEDCO Education Building after the company that pledged much of the project’s funding, that is located just south of the current education building. Staff there have also felt a space crunch from the combined $48 million construction and renovation. Work at the existing building has forced offices to relocate and share much smaller spaces.
Michael Bullis, dean of the college, said the education building has needed to expand for years. When he came to the University’s education school as a doctorate student in 1980, the school housed some of its administrative offices in a handful of temporary trailers on the property, he said – trailers that are still in use today.
The classes that would normally be in the education building have been dispersed throughout the campus, said Bullis. He added that the old building was not large enough to meet the needs of the students and faculty.
“We are really in a deplorable setting … the old facilities were going to disadvantage us in the future,” said Bullis.
Currently, the school’s facilities are scattered in 28 different sites around the Eugene area. The new building and renovations, Bullis said, will enable the school to bring many of them back into one central place.
Bullis said the renovation and new building will give the College of Education a central meeting place that he hopes will create a cohesiveness and connection within the graduate education programs. Additionally, the state-of-the-art new facilities in the new building will enable faculty and students to expand their research and teaching capabilities in new and innovative ways.
Bullis admits that the construction phase is creating disadvantages to current students.
“(As) a graduate school, the longevity of students is one year, so this is the year that students know,” said Bullis.
Once all the construction finishes, the two schools will create a new southwest entrance to the University, said Stewart.
“We are going to have this end of campus rise to the level of the north side. This end, the southwest end of campus, will be so beautiful,” said Stewart.
The construction on the music school is scheduled to finish by fall 2008 and be fully functioning by winter 2008. The new education complex should be completed by summer 2009.
[email protected]