Fri 28 Jul 2006
Several days ago, David begged for Williams photos, so here are some. These will be of particular interest to all of the rising seniors who picked into Morgan for next year, when their future rooms did not even exist yet.
This is Morgan Hall as seen from Spring Street. There are other views in the extended entry.
The side facing Goff’s and Jesup
A different view of the side facing Goff’s and Jesup (taken through the fence)
Construction workers on the same side (taken through the fence)
What are the cement blocks for? (taken through the fence)
A closeup of what they’re actually doing
The science quad side
The Route 2 side
This concludes our tour of the Morgan Hall renovation project.
July 29th, 2006 at 9:38 am
Geez. Cement blocks glommed onto Morgan strike me as incredibly tacky. However, the tag thingys hanging outside of them indicate that there’s going to be some kind of brick or stone facing. When they’re putting on the facing, the masons embed those tags in the mortar. That’s how you meld the two walls together and ensure they don’t separate.
Compared to the old days, the college is certainly getting renovation-happy. Morgan, built in 1882, wasn’t renovated until 89 years later, in 1971. Now it’s being renovated again only 35 years later. The next thing you know, they’ll probably want to tear down Sawyer Library, built only 30 years ago.
July 29th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Yeah, I really hope those blocks aren’t going to stay like that. I think you actually missed one, Guy — unless I’m mistaken, I believe MOrgan was renovated again sometime in the late 80’s / early 90’s. I just hope they don’t do a slip-shod job because they are trying to rush. Better to invest a little more money and time to do these things right the first time around and to avoid things like the frosh quad (ran out of money so had to use synthetic material instead of hard wood for half the flooring) or pretty much any building built or rebuilt from the mid-60’s through the mid-80’s (Sawyer, Mission, Greylock, the previous Morgan renovation, Prospect, Tyler Annex, Stetson annex, etc). All that does is create enormous long-term costs, like tearing down the Sawyer abomination in the middle of campus (which I wholeheartedly favor, I think it will dramatically transform the whole feel of campus providing a true campus center for the first time), ripping stairwells out of Prospect, Morgan, and Mission, blowing up Tyler Annex (I know the last hasn’t happened yet, but only a matter of time) etc. If only there was a way to get rid of the waffle ceilings in Greylock … although enormously expensive in the short run, I think the new buildings that have been constructed since the 90’s, like the science quad, theater, and new student center, will last far, far longer before needing major work and never feel hidiously dated. Investing in architecture, design and materials can double the useful life of a building … and short term inconvenience / cost is a small price to pay.