IAST project may affect Music, Engineering

As planning continues for the second phase of the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology project, University administrators are assessing the needs of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Music Department to determine whether the initiative will continue as planned. As originally conceived, phase two of the IAST project calls for relocating the Music Department and renovating the Morgan Building, the Music Building and the Music Annex to make room for Computer and Cognitive Science laboratories and classrooms. But administrators want to complete extensive evaluation before proceeding with the project. "We need to make sure that what phase two has envisioned can meet all the needs of the current Engineering programs," Vice President for Facilities Management Art Gravina said. He added that an initial determination of the Music Department's needs is occurring "concurrently" with continued planning for IAST. A "package" of the needs will be complete by the end of this summer, according to Gravina. But Music Department Chairperson James Primosch said he has not received any "official word" that the department is "moving or not moving." "It's what I expected [not actively discussing IAST-related changes]," he said. "There is no consultation of the overall needs of the Music Department taking place." Music professors complain about the department's current facilities, but have said they are uncertain about the possibility of improved facilities. "Our current facilities are totally inadequate," Music Professor Lawrence Bernstein said. "We need a building designed to teach music." He added that the department's needs include sound-proof buildings, larger classrooms and additional practice rooms. "We can't stop [noise from] buses, police cars and garbage trucks, but we can sound-proof the building," Bernstein said. He explained that the Music Department began using the Morgan Building in 1968 as a "temporary" structure, but have been forced to remain in a building which has not received any major renovations for the almost three decades. "We've been limping along all of this time in facilities that impair our ability to teach music properly," he said. Music Professor Norman Smith said faculty both "hate the Music Building and? love the Music Building. "It is almost certainly far better than any alternative quarters likely to be provided to us by the University of Pennsylvania," he noted. The recent fire at the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church -- which the University was renovating for use by the Graduate School of Fine Arts -- will affect the timing of the Center for Technology Transfer's planned move into the Morgan Building. Freeing space in the Morgan Building was contingent on the opening of the Charles Addams Fine Arts center this August, Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington explained, adding that "we are exploring all options available to keep most of phase two in motion and on schedule." Because funds for phase two are already committed, Gravina noted that any changes in the plans would force the University to "go back to the government for funding." "We can't pick up and change things," he said. The first phase of the IAST project -- scheduled to completed by October 1997 -- will provide increased research opportunities for students in SEAS, the School of Arts and Sciences and the Medical School. The building at 34th Street and Smith Walk will house a center for chemistry, a center for chemical engineering and a center for medical research.