by Lauren Gottlieb

   Though it may not look like much from the outside due to heavy scaffolding, Clark Hall is making a bold comeback on the inside. In an exclusive tour of the construction site, the Argus got a sneak peek of the happenings inside what will soon be a brand new freshman dorm.

   “We’ve removed everything that wasn’t structural. It’s been completely gutted,” said Rene Corriveau, Lee Kennedy Co project superintendent.

   Indeed, all of the building’s five floors have been completely stripped from floor to ceiling. The walls and stairwells, bathrooms and plumbing have all been removed to make way for the new construction that is beginning. Many of the changes are being made simply to keep up with new health and safety standards.

   “We had to take out all of the plumbing. It was all substandard,” said Dean of Student Services Mike Whaley, who has been intimately involved with the construction project. “And there wasn’t any insulation in here before. Now we are putting it in to match the energy code. Light fixtures will be energy efficient and all of the windows will be brand new.” 

   The “new” Clark will not only meet but exceed many of these energy and health requirements. For example, one of the building’s three stairwells is being converted to make room for an elevator.

   “The whole building is 100% [wheelchair] accessible. That was one of our big goals,” Corriveau said.        The plans also call for a new air conditioning system that will provide each room with its own thermostat.

   “The cost was such to upgrade to air conditioning that it didn’t make sense not to do it,” Whaley said.

   As of now, the fourth floor is the nearest to completion, with framing for the walls already in place.

   “It’s exciting to see the walls come up finally,” Whaley said. “Last week none of the walls were in yet.”

   The steel framing allows one to see where the walls will be built and just how the new layout will look. In contrast to the old Clark where all of the rooms were triples or quads, the new schematic calls for all doubles.

   “No more triples, no more for frosh at Wes,” Whaley said.

   Though all of the rooms will be much nicer than those of the old Clark, each with two windows and a walk-in closet, Corriveau has already selected the “best” picks for next year’s frosh class.

   “The corner rooms are the nicest in the whole building. The layout is just the nicest,” Corriveau said.

   Brand new bathrooms, being constructed on the opposite side of the building from where they originally were, will also be a big improvement on the old building. Though debate over the bathrooms’ gender assignments has been reserved, Director of Residential Life Jeff Ederer indicated that the two bathrooms on each floor would bear signs- one for each sex respectively.

   Corriveau couldn’t understand why it should be any other way.

   “If I paid $36,000 a year and my little girl was going to take a shower next to Mo Jo Joe… well, that wouldn’t happen,” Corriveau said.

   The most significant changes to Clark will come, however, in the smaller, more thoughtful additions. The hallways will be widened just enough to be five feet across, and windows will be added at each end of the hall to allow for better circulation and more natural light. To a large extent, these are the results of recommendations made by students and staff who have previously lived in Clark.

   “We went through a series of workshops with students and staff and asked questions about developing a new lighting design and making wider corridors,” Whaley said.

   Each floor will also have a kitchenette and two lounges: one study lounge and one “open” lounge for student activities. A new “main” floor, built from what was formerly the basement, will contain a full kitchen, lounge, bike room, vending machine area, laundry room, and even a separate apartment for the Area Coordinator to live.

   “The size of the building will be the same, but the amount of usable space will be much greater,” Ederer said.

   One of the larger changes being made to the building is the construction of a main entrance. Whereas the old Clark had four separate doors to enter and exit, the new building will be graced with a single grand entrance.

    “The building will have an entrance on what was formerly the basement level. There will be a real sense of having a front door,” Ederer said. “One grand entrance will be more social. It will help to create a sense of one big community.”

   As with many older buildings, Clark has posed some interesting challenges to its reconstruction team. One of the more difficult ones was the removal of asbestos found in the glue originally used in making the fourth floor ceiling. That portion of the construction took place this summer.

   “The whole floor was under confinement. It was wrapped entirely in plastic while the asbestos was being removed,” Corriveau said.

   But perhaps the most interesting aspect of this construction project is the attention paid to environmental and social concerns. Construction supervisors have taken pains to recycle as much as possible.

    “Seventy-eight percent of the materials that were taken out of here were recycled. We decided to do that on our own,” said Jennifer Rosenthal, associate director of construction services.

   “All of the steel was picked through, separated and recycled. So was the wood,” Corriveau said.

   Residential Life stressed that the decision to do this was not the result of pressure, but a part of the construction plans from the beginning.

   “No, it wasn’t done under pressure. We just felt it was the right thing to do,” Ederer said.

   Many of the materials going into the new Clark will likewise be either recycled or recycleable. For example, the walk-off mats on the main floor will be made of recycled tires and the new carpeting will be fully recycleable.

   The construction project has also made special efforts to utilize as many underrepresented contractors as possible.

   “We established a program to track hiring of local, women, and minority contractors. As of now we have had really good success. Fourteen percent of contractors are female, 68% are minority, and 25% are local,” Rosenthal said.

   As of now, construction is running ahead of schedule. As construction progresses, the campus will begin to have a better idea of how it will finally come together. For many, it is very exciting.

   “Because those of us that have been at Wesleyan know what the building was like, we see the change is really phenomenal. It is more exciting than seeing a new building go up because there is a real sense of ownership for what the new Clark will be,” Ederer said.

   Ederer speculated that Clark 2002 will be one of the most highly desired dorms on campus.

   “I would think it will be very popular, especially among those pre-frosh who will have a chance to see what the building looks like next spring,” Ederer said.

   The official date of completion for the new Clark dorm stands at July 15, 2002. Many of those who have watched the construction over the course of the year are especially looking forward to that moment.

   “When you come inside the building, it will look like a new building. It won’t look like Clark with a new coat of paint,” Whaley said.

   Indeed, the outside of the dorm will also be fully landscaped with trees, a porch and a small courtyard.

            “A year from today there will be a lot of people hanging out here,” Ederer said.