Fr om t he Head
Infrastructure By Sheila Culbert
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s the temperatures hit the high 90s here in Windsor, I foolishly decided to go check on various campus building projects that are ongoing this summer. While the heat was unpleasant, the construction was inspiring. With this year’s Summer Program fully online and the number of camps reduced as a result of the pandemic, students and most faculty are off the Island this summer, which has provided our Physical Plant team, working in partnership with off-campus construction firms, an opportunity to do some much-needed maintenance work. First, we have the replacement of the colonnade on the east side of Grubbs Quadrangle
at a cost of $2.2 million. Some of the almost 100-year-old columns and supports were in poor shape, and the railings on the Warham and Taylor second floor balconies no longer met the building code requiring us to restrict access to those popular spaces. We did the west side of the quad colonnade last summer and it looks terrific—indeed, you really cannot tell that it is not original, which was one of our most important goals when we started the project. As I write, the work has progressed to the point that the whole east colonnade has been removed and the bare façades of Warham and Taylor are revealed, which is quite startling to see. This project also includes two tastefully designed ramps to make the quad
more accessible. The second big project is the construction of the John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Center for Theater and Dance for a total budget of almost $15 million. The scope of work involves the complete renovation of the Norris Ely Orchard Theater, which will receive a much larger stage as well as a scene shop, dressing rooms, and new technology, and the addition of a dance studio, black box theater, bathrooms (always a good idea but lacking in the old NEO), and lobby, to better serve our talented dance and theater students. The finished project will also include some landscape enhancements to the Ratté Quadrangle, including the completion of The Way, a pedestrian walkway that winds through campus. Construction on the Nichols Center began in December 2020 and is scheduled for completion in January 2022. We have experienced some supply chain challenges, as many projects across the country have, but to date the project is proceeding as planned. A third, smaller project involves building dugouts for our girls softball team. Infrastructure, it seems, is on everyone’s minds right now. President Joe Biden has proposed a massive national infrastructure bill, while the tragedy of the collapsed condominium in Miami has us all aware of the dire consequences of aging infrastructure. For
Work begins on the reconstruction of the colonnade in front of Taylor Hall this summer. Photo: Michael Howard
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Loomis Chaffee Magazine Summer 2021
