Construction crews began refurbishing the Peterson Hall buildings Friday in response to issues discovered by faculty in some of the classrooms, according to Interim Director of Academic Facilities Michael Blazey.
Some problems to be addressed during renovations include poor acoustics, window glare and high temperatures, Blazey said.
The first phase of renovations will deal with the classrooms’ poor acoustics and should be completed by Oct. 15th, according to Michael Gardner, manager of capital and physical planning.
According to Blazey, the problems with acoustics stem from how most of the classrooms were originally designed to function as science labs.
“Most of the rooms were filled with lab benches and equipment, and had cabinetry mounted on the walls,” Blazey said. “[Because] labs have students working individually or in pairs, requiring a lower acoustic level … there was no need for sound dampening.”
To address the problem, Physical Planning and Facilities Management will have construction crews work weekends and during evening hours to install sound dampening ceiling tiles in 32 classrooms over a six-week period, Gardner said.
“These added furnishings [serve] to dampen the sound to some extent,” Blazey said.
Many classrooms in the PH buildings are occupied this semester by classes that were originally scheduled in Liberal Arts buildings 2, 3 and 4, which are undergoing seismic retrofitting and upgrades to their mechanical and electrical systems. The LA buildings will remain inaccessible until fall 2013.
English lecturer Rebecca Cummings, who teaches three classes in the PH buildings this semester, said she and her students had a difficult time hearing each other since the first week of classes.
“It is very difficult to hear [students],” Cummings said. “Some of them are saying it’s completely untenable. They just can’t deal with it, especially if there is an air conditioner on.”
Cummings said she is also looking forward to the box fans that PPFM will distribute to her other classrooms, which lack air conditioners.
Senior linguistics and Spanish major Jose Brassea said he looks forward to the arrival of box fans in his classes.
“The classes are muggy,” Brassea said. “Everyone always complains about the heat, so we end up opening the windows, but the noise combined with the acoustics just makes it worse.”
However, classes without air conditioning will not be fitted with individual units as part of the renovations, Gardner said, because of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, an effort that aims to reduce carbon emissions on campuses nationwide.
“People turn them on and leave the windows open and leave them on all night,” Gardner said. “We can’t put these window air conditioners up anymore. They aren’t energy efficient.”
The box fans will be a temporary solution to keep temperatures down until ceiling fans can be installed in all classrooms that lack air conditioning, Gardner said. The fans are expected to be installed by the start of the spring semester.
New roller shades will also be installed in all south-facing classrooms by Nov. 1 in both PH buildings to eliminate window glare, according to Gardner.
Because the renovations are spread out over several weeks and limited to weekends and evening hours, the most used classrooms will be renovated first, Blazey said.
“It’s understandable that it can’t be done quickly enough, because I have been in the classrooms … and personally suffer from a hearing disability,” Blazey said, “I would be lost in those rooms either as a student or as a faculty member. But there is relief on the horizon.”