As renovation plans for Bennett Hall and the Music Building move into the design phase, English and Music Department officials are now examining the details and feeding their majors promises of technologically savvy classrooms and sound-isolated rehearsal studios.
The buildings -- which have often been criticized for their deteriorating maintenance status -- house the English Department, the Music Department and the English Language Program.
Recently awarded with a $16.4 million renovation budget by the Board of Trustees, the English Department is planning a full facelift for Bennett Hall, which has not undergone any major renovations since 1966.
"The College will pay about a half [of the necessary amount] from accumulated funds," School of Arts and Sciences Dean Sam Preston said. "The rest will be collected through fundraising and, if necessary, loans."
Members of the English Department said they are pleased with the plans outlined thus far, especially because "it took for ages" to get the project started, English Department Chairman David Wallace said.
"All facilities will be upgraded," he added. "We enjoy working with the architects, imagining what undergraduates would want for their new lounge."
Plans are divided into two separate phases and include the renovation of the building's infrastructure -- including elevators, heating and plumbing -- as well as the optimization of office and classroom space and technology.
"We are creating the best classrooms we have to offer," College Finance and Administration Vice Dean Ramin Sedehi said.
Construction is expected to take about a year to complete and is predicted to run on schedule, according to University officials.
"We anticipate to evacuate the building next summer, and to return students and faculty by August 2005," Preston said.
The first part of the construction will concern the building's first three stories. The administrative offices will be moved to a Market Street location, while classes are still waiting to be assigned room spaces.
The second part -- due to begin in September 2005 and reach completion in the summer of 2006 -- will concern Bennett Hall's fourth floor.
Designers are planning to create "some superb rehearsal space" to foster the growing attraction Penn students seem to experience toward musical performance, Sedehi said.
The Music Building will also undergo some major renovations -- a necessary step according to its officials, considering that the building has never undergone serious renovations since its initial construction in 1892.
"The Music Building is in very bad shape, and it was not constructed appropriately to [meet] the needs of a music department," Music Department Chairman Jeffrey Kallberg said. "It needs sound isolation and acoustics that will help convey music in an ideal shape."
Kallberg added that offices are "ill-equipped" to serve the needs of the department's administration, and that "the renovations will help us get more rehearsal space for our students."
It is not yet known how much money will be allocated to this project, but officials said the face-lift will begin in August 2005, with completion expected for the same month in 2006.
"Wonderful classrooms, great new rehearsal spaces, two buildings with a new infrastructure and two departments that are being taken care of in this moment -- that is our goal," Sedehi said.
