NCSU Libraries Focus Online
Volume 27 number 3 - Spring 2007
D. H. Hill Library East Wing Reopens March 2007: Celebrating
the East Wing Reopening
By Jeanne Hammer, Capital Management and External Relations
The NCSU Libraries celebrated the reopening of the D. H. Hill
Library's East Wing the week of March 12 with a simple ribbon-cutting
and student-focused activities and events, designed to draw students
in to discover and explore their new learning space. Another event
later in the spring will highlight the inaugural exhibition in
the new gallery, B. W. Wells: Pioneer Ecologist, and give
everyone in the university and Friends of Library an opportunity
to celebrate and enjoy this milestone--completion of Phase I of
the Library Master Plan.
However, the dust has not completely settled. Ahead are final
inspections of this nearly twenty-one-month construction project
that has transformed completely the ground and first floors of
the East Wing and enhanced previous renovations on the second and
third floors. It is already obvious that all four floors have benefited
from electrical and HVAC upgrades and that the installation of
new windows has muted the traffic noise on Hillsborough Street
and brightened interiors with additional daylight. Two-dimensional
architectural drawings; color boards of fabric swatches; carpet,
cherry wood, and tile samples; and photographic images of furniture
have become a sleek three-dimensional reality. It has been exciting
during the last remaining weeks of the project to see everything
fall into place and breathtaking to view how the results are much
better than what was imagined.
The East Wing renovation benefited from the support and contributions
of many friends and collaborators. The Libraries would especially
like to thank the voters of North Carolina who provided the base
funding through the Higher Education Bonds and the Friends of the
Library Board of Directors and its members who provided personal
and financial support to enhance the quality and comfort of interior
finishes and furnishings. Special recognition goes to an adept
contractor, A&M Construction, who understood and cared about
what the Libraries wanted to achieve, and to the architectural
firm of J. Hyatt Hammond, who kept the project on track. The overall
renovation required a fruitful team collaboration of library and
university personnel, architects, contractor, and subcontractors.
The university and its alumni and friends can be proud of the outcome.
The real satisfaction, however, comes in watching NC State students
flock to and use the new learning space. We will learn from them
what works best and apply these insights to Phase II on Centennial
Campus as the James B. Hunt Jr. Library is envisioned
and designed.
|
