:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Friday, March 11, 2005 ::

Who Ever Heard Of An "Eight-Pack?"

The Board of Trustees is considering a major renovation of my current home, the Six-Pack.

The Six-Pack area will look drastically different in a couple years following a major renovation, according to a presentation given to the Board of Trustees at their Urbana meeting Thursday.

Two Six-Pack dining halls will be torn down, and two new residence halls will be constructed nearby, creating a new Quad area in the middle of the Six-Pack, according to the presentation by Mackey Mitchell, a St. Louis consulting firm.

The residence halls within the Six-Pack, as well as Barton, Lundgren, Taft and Van Doren residence halls account for 42 percent of housing for freshmen and sophomores, according to the presentation.

Starting later this year, the Illini Orange building will be demolished, and construction will start on a new dining hall and residential programs building in its place. At the same time, ground will be broken for a new residence hall on the empty field on the corner of First Street and Peabody Drive. The buildings are scheduled to be completed by 2009, according to the presentation.

Peabody Drive and Gregory dining halls will be torn down in 2007, the plan stated. Construction on the new Quad is scheduled to be finished by 2010.

The goal of the renovation, which is estimated to cost $105 million, is to create one common dining hall and a new Quad space surrounded by dorms on the 30,000-acre property, according to Mackey Mitchell.

Thanks to the DI's uneven reporting, I only know where one of the new residence halls will be. I'm also wondering how big the footprint of this new dining hall will be - the combined size of the Champaign dining halls is simply massive, while the mostly abandoned Illini Orange building is simply tiny. Also, without the basement for the dining halls, where will the area communal facilities be? The library, computer lab, rec room, exercise room, conference rooms, laundry rooms, and music practice rooms for both of the dorm "areas" that make up the six pack are in the basement of the dining hall. Will these get a new roof and become bona fide tunnels?

I'm also trying to put my head around this new quad in the middle - the Peabody Drive residence halls are three feet higher in elevation than the Gregory Drive residence halls. It'll be rather difficult to unify the new quad.

:: The Squire 1:03 AM :: email this post :: ::
...