Face-Lifts and Refits

What did the employees of Columbia University Facilities do during their summer vacation?

Students returned to campus this semester to find several major enhancements to Columbia's public and academic spaces. They included work on Kent Plaza, which has blocked off a path leading to the Amsterdam Avenue overpass, and facade repairs on Butler Library, which has required extensive scaffolding and sidewalk bridging.

But while Columbia spent around $25 million on campus renovations this summer, no amount of money could prevent Mother Nature from intervening. Rainy weather prompted a complete overhaul of South Lawn and precipitated delays in several renovation efforts.

A few of the more significant projects:

EXTERIOR WORK

• The facade repairs to Butler Library are the final stage of an 11-year project. While the scaffolding on the 114th Street side of the building is expected to be taken down in late fall, the sidewalk bridges facing 114th will continue to be in place until the end of 2007, as air-conditioning units are installed on the roof. The bridges facing campus are expected to be taken down by next spring.

• Kent Plaza is undergoing restoration as a result of leaks to the Student Services office underneath, which has itself been renovated. The construction work is expected to wrap up by mid-October. Because the area is part of the original McKim design, Facilities is taking pains to treat the space with historical accuracy.

• Students living on campus over the summer were exposed to the browning of the grass on South Lawn, followed by a period with no grass at all. Due to a combination of bad weather and tents at the beginning of summer, the lawns began to deteriorate in June. By the end of the month, the decision was made to replace most of the two lawns. Both parts of South Lawn were renovated in August, during which existing grass was removed, the area re-sloped for easier water drainage, and the fields re-sodded with Kentucky bluegrass.

• Other lawns around campus were also re-sodded, including the Van Am Quad lawn and the small lawns lining College Walk. The outdoor area between the Journalism building and Furnald was also improved to become more conducive to social activity. The Hamilton and Mathematics lawns are slated to be renovated within the next week.

• A new hockey field turf was installed over the summer at Baker Field and is expected to be completed within the next few weeks.

• New bike racks have been installed around campus.

INTERIOR WORK

• Classrooms on the fifth, sixth, and seventh floors of Hamilton received better lighting and furnishings as part of an ongoing project to renovate the interior of Hamilton.

• The Schermerhorn Extension now houses new labs for the psychology department and the ecology, evolution, and environmental biology department.

• The sixth floor of Chandler Hall was furnished with new laboratories.

• The lobby of Uris was fitted with new glass, metal, and lighting, and given improved information booths and screens.

• The floor was replaced in Ferris Booth.