PROGRESS TO DATE
November 1, 2006
Dear College Community,
Director of Student Activities Barny Peake and the
Quaker Campus did a great job providing a “Sneak Peak”
of the final design and programming for our new Campus
Center (QC October 19th edition). If you haven’t had a
chance to read it, the article appears on this web site
under the index tab, "In the News".
I will be doing a similar overview at the All Staff
Meeting on this Friday. I urge you to take a look at the
article because it provides a visual representation of
the design, as well as some ideas on how these spaces
might be used for various programming initiatives.
Now, let me provide an update on our progress to date
and some information on what will be happening with this
important project over the next few months.
I am please to let you know that the City review process
is moving forward. First, the Design Review Board
approved the project in mid-September, and the Planning
Commission’s approval was made on October 16th. Our next
step is to secure the building permits for the temporary
dining facility (expected in mid-November) and for the
Campus Center project (expected in mid-February).
The Architects…
Levin and Associates Architects are busy working on the
construction drawings. The goal is to submit 80% of the
construction drawings to the City by December 8th. The
architects will continue to work on the remaining 20%
(which details things that the City doesn’t review like
cabinetry, interior lighting, for example). Copies of
the construction drawings will then be distributed to
the many City departments that need to sign off, as well
as LA County Fire and Health departments. If we are
lucky, we should have responses from the City and other
governmental agencies right after the first of the year
(though we are concerned about possible delays
associated with the holidays). Once City comments are
received, Levin and Associates will need two to three
weeks to respond. 100% of the construction drawings will
be submitted in the third week in January. The City
review is typically much quicker in this second
iteration, and we hope to have a permit by the end of
the first week in February.
The Contractor…
Millie and Severson, our contractor, will begin setting
up in the CI parking lot, most likely during the
beginning of February. M&S will use the 100% drawings to
bid the work to various subcontractors in mid-January.
The bidding process takes about two to three weeks. If
the bids come in reasonably on budget, we’ll be set to
begin the renovation the day we get the building permit.
If they come in way over budget, we’ll need to bring
costs back in line.
Our goal is to begin construction in mid-February.
Temporary Dining Facilities
Construction of the Sprung structure, to be located in
the Harris Amphitheater parking lot, will begin in
mid-November and will be completed by mid-December. The
Campus Inn dining, Spot, and Bookstore will be housed in
this structure. You may be surprised to see that the
structure, although temporary, is really cool
(Illustrations of the facility and its program setup on
the web site.)
Activities over Winter Break…
College staff will prepare the Campus Inn for
construction.
Student Government and Student Publications, and the
Radio will move to the lower level of Hoover.
The Campus Inn, Spot, and Bookstore will be moved to the
Sprung structure.
The Club will be packed up. We are still working on
identifying various alternatives locations for events
that currently occur in the Club and Faculty Center
(e.g., Board meetings, large gatherings, dances and so
on).
The Whittier Monument…
The Monument will be taken down, as it is located on the
site of Building B of the Campus Center. The plan is to
refurbish and reinstall the plaque currently on the
monument, which was given to the College by the City of
Whittier in 1913, in a special niche within the inner
courtyard of the new amphitheater in the Center. We have
asked Levin and Associates to consider how to use the
existing bricks of the monument in this installation.
The Whittier College: The First Century on the Poet
Campus reports that a time capsule may lie within the
monument. If we learn that this is the case, we will
have a ceremony with you and the City to open the time
capsule at an appropriate time. And, we think the time
capsule is such a good idea, that we want to adopt it
for the new Campus Center as well. So, we are working
with Levin and Associates to create the opportunity for
a time capsule to be placed in the inner courtyard along
with the plaque.
The Poetry Strips in the Amphitheater…
As previously mentioned, the Campus Center will be
designed around a grassy amphitheater that enables the
community to take greater advantage of the wonderful
weather in this region. To make the area even more
special and more “Whittier,” poetry verses will be
embedded strips in the concrete of planters and other
features. So, we asked the community for suggestions
about which poetry to include and received an
enthusiastic response. Then a small group of students,
faculty, staff and alumni did a great job of evaluating
and selecting the submissions to include, and those
verses will be installed in the poetry strips. Some of
the details related to fitting specific poetry fragments
into designated strips are still being worked out, but
we look forward to sharing soon which of the seven
verses were selected from them more than 130 submitted.
I can tell you one thing now: John Greenleaf Whittier
will definitely be represented!
Questions?
Please feel free to contact me or any of the members of
the Building Committee.
Sincerely,
Jan Legoza
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