Construction projects change campus landscape By Josh Brandstadter Assistant News College Row, a signature Wesleyan landmark whose grand appearance has suffered in recent years due to construction in and around the Memorial Chapel and the ’92 Theater, will once again be complete when the new Zelnick Pavilion opens on Friday, Oct. 3. Other parts of campus, including the Butterfield dormitories and the Center for the Arts (CFA), have also been under construction. The construction of the new Center for Film Studies is ahead of schedule, according to Project Manager Alan Rubacha, and is set to open on April 4 of next year. Construction in the Butterfield courtyard, excepting the Summerfields dining area, is set for completion in the next few days. The motivating force behind the Zelnick Pavilion was to provide certain mechanical systems– air conditioning in particular– for the chapel and theater, without infringing on the space of the buildings. The pavilion was also deemed necessary by Construction Services and the Administration in order to make the chapel and theater handicap accessible. The two-floor pavilion will serve as a gathering area during intermission for plays, a location to host receptions, and a rental space. It will have a box office where tickets to University events can be purchased, as well as public bathrooms on the lower level. Students will notice not only the functionality of the structure, but also its unique appearance. “We wanted to design a building that didn’t compete with the architecture [of the chapel and theater],” said Joyce Topshe, assistant vice president for facilities explaining the choice of the glass exterior. “We wanted to make it almost invisible.” The construction of the pavilion supplemented exterior work and interior renovations of the Chapel and Theater, which have been out of use since June 2002. The Dimeo Construction Company began work on College Row in September 2000 and Topshe expects the total cost of the project to exceed $22 million. Construction on the Center for Film Studies, located in the CFA, began on June 4 of last year and will also soon be completed. “The Center for Film Studies is going terrifically,” Rubacha said. He added that the planning for the building included weekly and sometimes biweekly meetings with representatives of the Film Studies department over a period of nearly two years. “This is the first new building built at Wesleyan in something like 30 years, so it’s a very special building in that regard,” said Jeanine Basinger, chair of the Film Studies department and curator of the cinema archives. Basinger added that the Film Studies department has been sharing space with other departments due to the construction. “We are currently very crowded in a limited amount of space,” Basinger said. “This is our first chance to have our own spaces that are correctly constructed.” The new center will have rooms that meet the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences specifications for movie viewing. It will also contain a main projection room, with additional rooms for digital, virtual, and 16-millimeter film. In addition, it will have offices for film studies faculty and house the University’s cinema archives. The building is expected to cost $5.6 million, according to Topshe, and FIP Construction has been in charge of construction. The Butterfield Courtyard received several landscaping improvements and has been made more handicapped accessible through summer construction efforts. Such accessibility was important in order to make a path from Parking Lot L, through the Butterfield dorms and Lawn Avenue, and finally out to Church Street. “The design was upgraded to improve the whole quality of the landscape,” Topshe said. She mentioned that certain landscaping features, such as the use of stone rather than concrete, were improved in an upgrade that is expected to be finished over the next few days. The landscaping projects, including additional work done near Hall-Atwater Laboratories, is expected to cost $200,000. Topshe said that upcoming projects include the creation of new parking lots on campus near the athletic facilities, on Lawn Avenue, Cross Street, and Pine Street. She also mentioned a November ground breaking for the addition to the Freeman athletic center. The addition, according to Topshe, will help make way for construction of the new University Center. The design for the new University Center has yet to be chosen, but the current consensus revolves around converting the Fayerweather Gymnasium while preserving its classic exterior. Plans to renovate the WestCo Café have been making progress as well, and Topshe said that a proposal has been submitted to the Student Space Committee. The proposal includes improvements in lighting, furniture, and the kitchen, in order to facilitate the idea of a student-managed café. While campus construction seems constant, many of the projects are close to completion, which will help offset the unsightly appearance of those that are not. Slowly but surely, Topshe said, the University is getting a much-needed makeover.

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