#bennington-constructs

This place is getting busier every day! We have tons of tradespeople on-site, pushing to make Commons a reality. Structural steel, insulation, electrical lines, sprinkler systems, ventilation, and mechanical rooms are the building blocks of this renovation, helping Bennington College keep momentum towards a Spring 2019 completion goal.

Sometimes “building blocks” are literal blocks. This tower of concrete is the new passenger elevator shaft, which will facilitate accessibility to all levels of Commons.

Who knew that concrete could be pumped through a hose to the third floor? These workers are replacing an old concrete slab which had begun to curl and buckle from old age. Now the floor looks shiny new!

These new dormers (really tall windows) will let some beautiful morning light into the “bridge” between the north and south sides of Commons. It looks like this carpenter is also enjoying the new views of Crossett Library and Mt. Anthony!

For most of campus, bright red waterproofing is the current face of the Commons renovation. This material will live underneath the new slate roof, and help prevent any leaks or water damage.

Upon close inspection, we found that the copper roofs on our iconic cupola are wearing thin and letting water into the structures below. To prevent future sogginess, we will replace the copper roofs--as well as paint, replace, and restore the wooden components as needed. 

   The third floor stage of Commons, before and after demolition and hazardous materials abatement. This renovation is a culmination of initiatives to preserve the embodied history of this building, and to realize Bennington College’s vision for progressive education.

    ^While notable artists such as Martha Graham and Bob Dylan performed here, the entire third floor has been inaccessible for decades due to code and accessibility concerns. 

   ^For the historic cupola (shown above), our goal is to change as little as possible while rebuilding to survive another 100 years of weather.

   ^Underneath the cupola, removing the old plaster reveals structural steel beams. Fortunately, they are still in good shape.

   ^Looking out from the third floor stage, we see the backbones of the Commons clock. The pin-hole of light shining through the center illustrates very poor insulation. Adding thermal and water barriers throughout Commons will help us save energy, keep occupants comfy, and keep the building dry!

   ^Back in the day, classes were taught on the 3rd floor of Commons--by faculty like Paul Feeley and Gunnar Schonbeck. As part of this renovation, sixteen classrooms and learning spaces will be (re)introduced to the building.

   ^These murals were the creation of Manju Shandler ‘95 (with various other graffiti contributors over the years). The abatement of hazardous materials throughout the building necessitated that we remove the paint and wall materials from this space.

       ^For more info on Manju’s work, click here!

   ^The north face of Commons was traditionally thought of as the “back” side. Now that academic buildings like Dickinson, VAPA, and CAPA, have arrived to the north of campus, Commons now truly sits at the center of Bennington College. 

   ^The north face of Commons will transform from a back-of-house entry into a welcoming front door. A multi-story glass addition featuring an academic lounge and classroom will be introduced, as well as a new terrace to the east for outdoor dining and ideal views.

 ^Hollow terracotta block and other structural features such as masonry archways are revealed throughout the building. Now that the former offices have moved to the new Student Health Center, this small wing (sandwiched between the 2nd and 3rd floor) will be converted into academic spaces.

   ^New vantage points of Crossett Library, Tishman Lecture Hall, Dickinson Science Building, The Barn (and its oak tree), and Noyes House.

   ^Stainless steel from the 2nd floor dining hall’s hot food line. The walls of the kitchen are marked for demolition. 

   ^The same view, with kitchen demolition completed. The 2nd floor of Commons will continue to serve as a dining hall, but with accessibility from the north, east, and south sides.

   ^The “big room” or 70′s addition to the dining hall will become one of the main kitchen locations in the new Commons building.

   ^With paintings safely stored, this wall will ultimately be fully removed, connecting the 70′s addition to the location which recently housed the kitchen. 

   ^The “Red Room” of the dining hall (my personal favorite), after paint and drywall is stripped from walls. These walls have since been completely removed, but will be rebuilt as shown in the floor plan below.

   ^A floor plan of the 2nd level, including multiple kitchen stations, outdoor seating, and even a few classrooms to the north. One goal for this design was to create more room for seating and a more open arrangement while remaining within the original footprint of the building.

   ^Another historic feature set to remain is the Commons Lounge. These two staircases on either side will be southern points of access which lead to the Dining Hall and 3rd floor. A passenger elevator will be installed on the north side to ensure accessibility throughout the building.

   ^While the Commons Lounge will stay, the two spaces on each side of it will have new uses. The area that previously served as the Post Office will become a new Cafe/Bakery, while the space previously occupied by Health Services will be the new home for the Bookstore, . 

   With big renovations on the way, we will need to find a temporary home for the dining facilities currently housed in Commons. For the most part, this will mean expanding the Student Center, our current bar/grill and social space.    This transition to the Student Center will include an interior renovation to the existing kitchen, the construction of additional seating space, and the leasing of temporary kitchen facilities. Throughout the Commons renovation timeline, all of these projects will support dining operations in tandem.

   As you might imagine, there will be remarkable changes to the Student Center in order for it to become a full service dining facility. The image below illustrates future plans for the existing interior of the Student Center.

                                     Floor Plan by Corsi Associates    The interior of the student center will undergo significant remodeling to accommodate extra meal capacities, such as the introduction of a salad bar, deli station, and breakfast station. There will even be a miniature bakeshop where the coffee used to live.

^The framing of the new salad bar, deli, and breakfast station.

^Cleared space for hot food stations, including grill and pizza options. 

^Recently added plumbing for our future miniature bakeshop.   Renovations to the Student Center’s existing interior will help expand meal options, but the Student Center alone doesn’t have enough space for the 450 seats necessary to serve Bennington at peak hours.   Multiple options to provide additional seating space were reviewed, and we ultimately decided that the best decision was a permanent addition to the Student Center itself.

                                   Rendering by Centerline Architects    The addition has been designed to accommodate our expected seating capacity, as well as to facilitate future adaptation to an indoor recreation space.

  Even with renovations to increase the capacity of the Student Center’s kitchen, it is still necessary to bring additional kitchen facilities to support meal operations. This will be done via rented mobile kitchen trailers that will be located north of the addition.

^Blue = Dishwashing       ^Dark Green= Kitchen    ^Light Brown = Dry Storage ^^Purple (Shown on top image) = Offices

  The ultimate goal of this work is to maintain a great dining experience. So even while Commons goes offline for major renovations, these changes should make sure that mealtimes stay delicious, convenient, and lively.

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When Commons gets renovated some things will stay, and some things will go. Starting with windows: the south facade clearly has historic value, and over time has become an iconic face of Bennington College. 

Since these windows are a part of southern half of Commons, they are also of historic value and will therefore be maintained through the renovation. Additional storm windows will be added to improve their air seal and insulation.

This won’t be the case for these northern windows, which will be replaced as a part of the larger programmatic and aesthetic updates to the north side of Commons. 

Historically, the northern side of Commons has been understood as the “back” side, as the initial campus development was largely oriented towards the south. Now, in response to decades of succeeding development surrounding Commons on all sides, there is an opportunity for Commons to serve as a central and accessible link at the heart of campus-- joining residential, academic and social facilities. The new North entry is a significant gesture exemplifying this new role.

Spring is here! While the Cornelian cherries are in bloom, they won’t be able to stay here long since there will be a significant amount of construction work in this area. In order to save them, we plan to transplant them behind our new health center (see previous posts for more info on the Health Center renovations).

Here are a few snapshots of the historically significant but often forgotten third floor of Commons. Of all the areas receiving renovations, this area may have the richest mix of hello’s and goodbyes.

The third floor of Commons has been closed off due to code-related and safety reasons for several decades. One of the most significant components of the Commons renovation will be the revitalization of this space into a new center for academic and social activity.

The floor plan above represents nearly 15,000 square feet of restored classroom and learning space, including a new “co-curricular lab” space for which details are still in development (represented in this drawing by the loose “bubbles” of program in the central space).  While the development of the third floor as a collection of learning spaces may seem like a considerable shift for current students, it is not far off from the building’s history.

Above is a late 1940′s lecture on the third floor--attended by Helen Frankenthaler and peers, taught by Paul Feeley. Judging by the architectural sketch shown below, plans for the renovated classrooms won’t venture too far from this original format.

While these classroom spaces will preserve the spacial characteristics of Commons, they will also incorporate new technology, including updated AV, heating, cooling, and lighting systems. Multiple classrooms with individual thermostats make it very important that doors between rooms are air tight. Doors will also need to be acoustically robust to minimize sound disturbance from the outside. This means we will need to replace most of the doors in Commons.

Some of these doors will be repurposed on campus (stay tuned for details!), but its likely that a majority will be donated to non-profits and other community members.

For the past 20+ years, the third floor has served more as an attic than as an occupied space; and like any attic it contains a mix of junk and treasures. The treasures will be set aside as artifacts of Bennington’s unique cultural heritage, and will be incorporated into displays or held in the campus archives as appropriate.

We believe that most of these artifacts are the creation of Gunnar Schonbeck (1917-2005) and his students. Gunnar started teaching at Bennington circa 1945 and was one of our longest held faculty members. In addition to being an ingenious instrument builder, he believed strongly in audience participation, giving opportunities for all community members to get involved in music making regardless of past experience. While many of these instruments have found a home at MASS MoCA Museum in North Adams, we are hoping to exhibit these items either during the renovation, or within Commons once the renovation is complete.

While the origin of most items on the third floor could be explained, others are more mysterious...

   With classes starting today, the summer project team is feeling both relieved and determined. Our post office, dining, and health services facilities are where they need to be...but there is still much left to accomplish.    The above photo shows the new mailboxes, installed in the Barn hallway. Below, paving and landscaping around the Student Center Addition on August 31st -- a few days before the first lunch is served.

   As of today’s convocation ceremony, roughly 700 people were served from the Student Center’s kitchen. Within the addition’s interior, doors from Commons have been re-purposed and used as a trim detail. We are still planning to create further partitions within the space.

   Meanwhile, the Health Center is receiving its last touch-ups of painting and insulation. This building has certainly come a long way, bringing touches of artistic expression to our health and psych services facility. Additionally, this building now houses the Office of Student Health Promotion and Campus Life. By combining these offices into one space, we hope to achieve a more holistic approach to developing students’ “plans” for health and well-being.

   Another renovation project, the Paran Creek Apartments, has also been a part of our busy summer. While the College was not responsible for the renovation of these apartments, we are in the process of constructing a path that connects this area of North Bennington to campus. These apartments, which became occupied over the weekend, are being leased by the college to accommodate a gradually growing class size. 

   Meanwhile, the renovation of Commons is underway. This security fence was erected to ensure safety of Bennington community members during the construction period. The abatement and demolition section of the project is about half-way complete, and we have a general contractor on board to accomplish the job of rebuilding Commons. More updates to follow!!

   With the Commons renovation coming into reality, I’ve been making some big picture blog posts. On a slightly less monumental note, here are a few words about our new laundry situation: We now have laundry machines in the Colonial houses!

   Over the summer, we’ve been preparing the new homes for the dozen or so washers and dryers that were previously housed in Commons .

   To find a replacement to the Commons laundry room, we toyed with lots of ideas including re-purposing parts of nearby buildings, renting temporary laundry trailers, even building a whole new laundry shack!

   We ultimately decided that providing laundry facilities directly to the houses that didn’t already have them would be the best long-term and convenient solution.

   The main task that this demanded was the installation of electrical, plumbing, and ventilation to support the washers and dryers.

   The laundry machines have been placed in different locations for each colonial house. Student rooms, housekeeping closets, and various other nooks and crannies have been converted into the new laundry facilities.

^The Student Center Addition -- July 13th 2017

^The new Health Center --  July 13th 2017    Renovations, new buildings, (and everything in-between) have all made for an eventful summer at Bennington College.  Much of our work has been dedicated to preparing the Student Center addition, as well as the new Health Center.    These facilities will help make the Commons renovation possible, while still providing necessary dining and health/psych services to the campus community.                              Student Center Addition--May 24th 2017

^May 24th 2017.  Excavating for foundation of student center addition.

^June 7th 2017.  Laying rebar for concrete footings of foundation.

^ May 24th 2017.  Early excavation of stormwater retention basins, which will control runoff from rain and snowmelt from student center landscape.

^June 7th 2017. Stormwater retention basin in action!

May 24th 2017. Site work for the new building and temporary dining facilities.  Unfortunately, a storm came through a few days after this photo was taken and knocked down five or six of the pine trees (shown to the right).

^June 7th 2017. For safety reasons, we decided to remove the remaining pine trees in this stand. For more information, see “Landscaping around the Student Center” on the Campus Renovations webpage.

                           Student Center Addition--July 13th 2017 

   The Student Center Addition will serve as additional seating for dining operations during the Commons renovation. For more information see previous blog post “The Student Center: Temporary Dining Conversion”

^July 13th 2017. As a pre-fabricated steel building, the Student Center addition popped up literally over the weekend! The new building is scheduled to be online for Fall term.    On the inside of the Student Center, we have made some significant changes to create a dining space ready for full meal service.

^ May 24th 2017. Beginning construction of the new salad bar. 

^ May 24th 2017. Still in the process of moving, with plenty of cleanup work to do. 

^ July 13, 2017. Student Center Salad Bar completed, self-cook stations included.

^ July 13, 2017. Look familiar? Most of the cabinets in this salad bar were actually re-purposed from the Commons kitchen.

^ July 13th 2017. The Student Center is already serving meals to summer programs!                            v  Student Health Center--July 13th, 2017  v

  Across campus, the new Health Center is close to completion. For more information on this project, look at our earlier post, “Preserving the Past, Planning for the Future.”

^March 23rd 2017. This building is nestled between the East Academic Center, Meyer Recreation Barn, and Buildings & Grounds. 

^ March 23rd 2017. An interior view of the Health Center waiting room.

^ July 13th 2017. Waiting room with sculptural LED light fixture.

^ March 23rd 2017. A corridor, still undergoing mechanical and electrical work.

^ July 13th 2017. The same corridor with ship-lap, paint, and LED lighting systems.

^March 23rd 2017.  The doctor’s office--storing mechanical equipment soon to be installed throughout the building.

^ July 13th 2017. Doctor’s office reaching completion. 

^December 16th 2016. Stone shelf original to building.

^ July 13th 2017. New office in Psychological Services wing.

^ March 23rd 2017. New windows, vapor barrier (green), and insulation (pink).

^July 13th 2017. A view of the rear porch.

^The renovation of this historic building has involved improvements to insulation and weatherproofing, as well as highly efficient heating, cooling, and lighting systems.                                         EAC Post Office--July 13th, 2017 .

^As a brief aside, the Post Office in the East Academic Center is up and running! You can come here for letter mail, whereas large packages can be picked up and delivered from Buildings & Grounds. Soon, mailboxes will be installed in The Barn where inter-college mail and notices will be placed.                                            Commons--July 13th 2017

^Commons has been mostly emptied in anticipation of renovations. Furniture, light fixtures, doors, and countless odds and ends have been either stored, repurposed, or donated to the community.

^The Commons salad bar has been re-purposed in the Student Center 

^These paintings will be put into storage in anticipation of future enjoyment.

   In order to renovate Bennington College’s most central building, we have had to first solve the problem of identifying- and creating- new homes for the services that currently live in Commons: --Dining --Health/Wellness --Post Office --Laundry --Offices for the Masters in Fine Arts in Writing program.     Rather than finding temporary fixes, we have focused on designing long-term solutions for these problems. The accommodation of these services will thus result in many permanent improvements to our campus.    Instead of using construction trailers for laundry, we are creating new laundry rooms within student houses which do not currently include laundry facilities. Our new Health Center will be housed in a completely renovated historic building in a central campus location-- giving new life to an early 20th-century agricultural building which predates even the College itself. Dining will be made possible through a permanent addition to our Student Center, alongside extensive modifications to the existing interior space and infrastructure.   Here is a diagram showing the relocation of services necessary for the Commons Renovation.