Scaffolds come off Logan Hall

For the first time in their college careers, students can now actually see the front of Logan Hall. Next door, however, scaffolding and a huge yellow tractor block College Hall's facade. Both projects are on-going deferred maintenance projects originally begun in the mid-1980s in order to restore and renovate the historical buildings. Vice President of Facilities Management Arthur Gravina said the exterior of Logan Hall should be completed by early spring. And the front of College Hall faces the same deadline, Gravina said. "I think you'll see a dramatic change when that scaffold comes down," he added. "We even want to do some indirect lighting to show these buildings off." Gravina said progress on Logan Hall is moving much more rapidly than that on College Hall because Logan Hall is vacant. Logan 17 is the only room in the entire building in use. As a result, the construction workers can work on bigger phases of the Logan Hall renovation. Before, the scaffolding remained up around the building and when one area was completed -- or another area had a specific problem -- work could continue on the remaining parts of the building. Since College Hall is occupied by classes and offices, scaffolding can only be kept up in the areas where work is occurring, and therefore much smaller phases are involved, Gravina said. To accelerate the College Hall renovations, Gravina is considering relocating the occupants of College Hall. Provost Stanley Chodorow and University President Judith Rodin, who both have offices on the first floor of College Hall, have said they would be willing to move. "I'm begging them to let me move out of College Hall," Rodin said. "It ought to be done more quickly and we don't need unnecessary nicety in order not to inconvenience the residents of that building." Although Gravina said he was investigating the possibility of moving the residents of College Hall out of the building, he said there were issues on the other side of the argument that should be considered. "There are a lot of questions when you do that," he said. "You could save some dollars by moving them, but it could cost five times as much to do the relocations." Chodorow said that one time consuming part of the College Hall renovations involved replacing every single stone of the building. He said the exterior of College Hall will not be fully completed until 1998 or 1999. Chodorow added that the administration will have to make decisions "down the road" regarding what programming and offices will go in each building. "We will make those decisions on how to use the buildings in good time so that there will be no break between when they're done and when they're used," he said. Gravina said Facilities Management is already beginning to work with the School of Arts and Sciences on designing Logan Hall's infrastructure based on the school's programming ideas.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.