Author: Ryan Strong
The renovation of Swan Hall fell behind before it even started. With the exception of the installation of fencing, a single portable restroom and the removal of asbestos and lead paint, the expansion and revamping of the outdated building has not yet begun, due to a lack of permitting and the need for a lengthy environmental review.
“The project schedule has been adjusted out to incorporate a longer than originally anticipated conditional use permit process. All other aspects of the project schedule are progressing as planned,” Facilities Project Manager John Mortl said.
The holdup will cause the building to open a full year later than originally planned. Instead of moving into a renovated Swan Hall for the 2011 school year, faculty will stay in temporary offices until the fall of 2012. Director of Communications Jim Tranquada asserted that the initial timeline presented was always considered an ideal and optimistic schedule for completion.
The project also runs the risk of being over budget due to the price of accommodating faculty in temporary offices for an extra year, though Tranquada said that built-in contingency funds will help cover the cost.
Occidental President Jonathan Veitch called the $19.8 million renovation “the College’s most important building project,” and put a priority on its completion. The funding was finalized this past June.
Despite the renovation’s initial progress, the delay approached inevitability as management realized that, due to the building’s historic nature, an environmental review was necessary before construction could commence.
The review, part of California State Law, entails a 45-day public comment period and two public hearings, among other requirements. Tranquada said that the school hopes to complete the public hearings in January. A technical permit for the renovation, as well as land use approval, is also needed due to area zoning regulations.
Despite the challenges, there is no question that the school is still going forward with the revamping of one of its three original structures on campus. Built in 1914 as a men’s dormitory, Swan is split into three offset sections. In 1960, Swan was converted into an academic building.
The structure’s floor plan was so convoluted that it was often easiest to go outside in order to get from one side of the building to the other. According to Tranquada, in some cases, a student or professor had to “walk through one office to get to another.”
“We are giving faculty a space designed as offices, not a dorm room turned into an office,” Tranquada said. “Faculty has wanted the college to address Swan for years and we’re doing it.”
Some professors are waiting for the permits before they get too enthused about the project.
“I can’t be excited yet,” English and Comparative Literature professor Michael Near said.
Relocation Glitches
As faculty moved into their temporary offices in late May, they encountered several problems.”The set-up of the temporary offices [trailers] had the typical set of issues we encounter with any construction project,” Mortl said.
Ranging from miscommunications to electrical failures, the rough patches didn’t seem to bother professors much.Near considered the move relatively smooth, adding that “there are always glitches.”
“Nothing is perfect,” said retired History professor Wellington Chan, who also relocated his office to the temporary location.
Chan thought the timing of the move combined with the tight deadline made the move challenging.”I think it was a bit rushed,” he said.
Other professors seem to agree that the lead-up to the move could have been more effectively executed.
“The deadline wasn’t as clear as it might have been,” Psychology professor Anne Schell said. “Sometimes there was inconsistency in what we were told by whom; we needed a nice clear-cut statement.” Schell described the situation as “anxiety-producing.”
The move went fine for Schell, though. She recruited Oxy students to help transfer delicate lab equipment, hoping they might be more careful than movers.
“I think movers see the word fragile and think it means don’t drop it more than one vertical foot,” Schell said. Tranquada agreed that the relocation is the low light of the construction project.
“Moving is always disruptive, it’s always a pain and there’s no way around that,” he said.
Faculty Commons
The largest single space in Swan Hall will be a faculty area on the first floor. The area will include a divider that allows for splitting the room as well as an outdoor patio.
As an open place for faculty to congregate during the day, the commons is also rumored to function as a bar, equipped to handle food and alcohol services for a wide range of events.
Food and alcohol service logistics will be decided on an “event-by-event basis,” according to Tranquada. “It’s not a bar with beer taps and that sort of thing.”
While some professors appreciate the idea of a faculty commons, they also worry that the room takes away from much-needed office space and could be somewhat disruptive.”We need a commons of sort. The not-so-good part is that it’s right next to offices,” Chan said.
Concerns over New Swan
There is no doubt that the renovated Swan will include better office spaces, a cohesive floor plan, new seminar rooms and modern lab spaces.
“It [the building] was supposed to be not very safe. Now they’re trying to build up to code,” said Chan.
While the building will be retrofitted to withstand earthquakes and achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver status for environmental impact, the project aims to respect the architectural heritage of Occidental by repairing or replicating instead of redesigning exterior details, according to a June 29 press release on the project.
Although it seems that the faculty is happy that the college is finally improving the building’s safety and facilities, some professors have a few concerns about what is missing from the blueprints.
Everybody always has a desire for bigger offices with enough space to fit all of their books, said Near.
Others are more concerned about the small number of offices, providing limited opportunities for departments to increase in size.
“It’s a shame to spend that much money and not have more room for anticipated expansion,” Schell said.
Tranquada confirms that all of the offices will be occupied: “When completed, the Swan Hall project will provide additional space for existing faculty. [ … ] All the existing space will be spoken for, however.”
Future Projects
There are no set plans for a major project to follow Swan Hall’s renovation, though it appears that revamping the library may be on the top of the administration’s priority list.
“What’s likely to be next is the transformation of the library into an academic commons,” Tranquada said. “It always depends on our ability to raise money.”
President Veitch has also expressed interest in better integrating Occidental with the surrounding community. He has called for exploration into the possibilities of “utilizing existing housing in the neighborhood for faculty housing.” Veitch has also called for making the campus more pedestrian-friendly.The highest authority for these large projects is the Board of Trustees, who approved the Swan Hall renovation project after meeting with different stakeholders and working out funding last year. They too continue to explore ideas for future campus alterations.
It is clear that Swan Hall’s renovation is just the first step in a renewed push to improve facilities critical to the advancement of the institution.
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