WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2004
CAMPUS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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5
Renovators save 129-year-old structure
By Julie Jones
jjones@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The preservation of the University of Kansas's oldest structure is nearing completion.
Construction for the new Hall Center for the Humanities should be finished as scheduled in January 2005, said Sam Gibbs, superintendent of Turner Construction Company.
The new 15,000 square-foot building, 900 Sunnyside Drive, will incorporate the arches of the University's old powerhouse.
"This is one of the most interesting projects I've worked on," Gibbs said. "It's not everyday you get to build a new building inside one that's 100 years old."
The powerhouse, patterned on a Romanesque building in Spain, is the oldest building on campus, constructed in 1887 for $16,000. The cost of the new Hall Center is $5.5 million.
"For a humanities center to build on the past this way is a metaphor for what many of the faculty are doing."
Most of the funds, $3.6 million, were a gift from the Hall Family Foundation. The remaining amount was obtained through fundraising and the University.
Workers saved as much of the original powerhouse as possible, hoping that the burned bricks and wooden lintels would someday tell a story, Gibbs said.
Victor Bailey Hall Center director
Three sides of the original building's exterior were saved. The arches were restored, with much of the original brick kept.
Construction workers on the new Hall Center for the Humanities have saved as much of the original powerhouse as possible. The new structural supports are built in and around the oldest building on campus. The project should finish construction as scheduled in January 2005.
Horse hair was found inside existing walls.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
"It's been kind of an archeological dig," said Doug Atthebery, project manager for Turner Construction Company. "The building itself is going smoothly, it's just the existing conditions that make it challenging."
Undocumented items, such as underground tunnels, were coordination issues builders had to handle carefully.
The interior and exterior of the new building will complement the arches. The aesthetics will be elegant, not too modern, the inside containing hard wood floors and an oak stairway.
"For a humanities center to build on the past this way is a metaphor for what many of the faculty are doing," said Victor Bailey, Hall Center director.
The Hall Center's primary goals are faculty development and research.
The new building is one of the few humanities centers that was purpose-built and will allow for a more creative and intellectual climate. Bailey said.
larger conference room and more office space will increase educational opportunities and a sense of community. The new center is a testimony of the impact the Hall Center has had on the public, Bailey said.
The addition of a new seminar room, a Edited by Miranda Lenning
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