Tawes Hall is undergoing a “major” renovation that will bring more office space and five new general purpose classrooms for this university’s arts and humanities college, Facilities Management officials said.
The project, which involves renovating 29,000 square feet in Tawes Hall’s old theater, will cost about $15.9 million, said Bill Olen, the capital projects director.
Construction began in June and is scheduled to conclude in November 2015.
Because the project is an adaptive reuse of the old theater, Olen said, the renovation promotes sustainability within the university.
“This scope is much more sustainable and cost effective than building new, which could be a third more expensive,” Olen said. “The reuse and repurposing of classrooms — that’s very sustainable and highly efficient.”
The worst of the noise disruption that the project would bring is already over, he said, as the demolition of the original stage and balcony took place during the summer.
“That work was very noisy,” Olen said. “Noisy work now has been limited to occur before 8 a.m.”
The project will give the American studies department additional office space and state-of-the-art classrooms.
“It will create space for a department that hasn’t had a home in years,” Olen said.
The project construction will share similar features to what’s being built in the Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center, such as classrooms that facilitate collaborate learning, said Terence McCann, academic facilities director.
For that reason, this university’s Office of the Provost made the project a priority, Olen said.
American Studies department chair Nancy Struna said she’s ready for the new space her department has never had. There will be four floors of offices, a tech room and a large seminar room on the first floor, she said.
“We are all very excited about it,” Struna said. “It looks like there’s a lot of space, too.”
Karen Castillo, a junior enrolled in letters and sciences, said she’s “torn” about all of the recent construction projects occurring on the campus, including this one.
“It’s going to be nice to see what they add to it — to see what new resources are available to us,” Castillo said. “I just think that maybe adding all these things at once might not be that necessary.”
But junior Sandeep Bedi said he likes the idea, especially because he has noticed a lot of money being spent on research lately. Given the school’s recent expansions and a need for more classrooms, “it’s a fine plan” to spend money on upkeep, he said.
“A lot of our money is devoted to the UMD image, which this is a part of,” the kinesiology major said.
Olen said there are additional smaller renovation projects underway across the campus, though not as significant as this one. The smaller renovations are for offices, such as the office space renovations taking place in H.J. Patterson Hall, McCann said.
