"We've made remarkable progress over the past 10 years or so in filling out our new space needs and renovating existing structures," said Provost Billy Frye. "A few critical needs remain to be addressed, such as the Arts Center, the new Physics Building and expansion of the Chemistry Center. These will come--sooner rather than later, I hope--but overall, we must shift the balance of our thinking toward curtailment of physical expansion and development of the highest possible quality of programs within the fine physical plant that we now have. We must also give much more attention to unifying and enhancing the function of our existing physical spaces and buildings."
Asbestos abatement has already begun in the Physics Building; site work and demolition inside the building will continue this summer, with most of the noisiest work scheduled for completion before fall classes begin. The entire Walker-Callaway Center project should be completed by next summer.
The Department of Religion and the Institute of the Liberal Arts, former Physics Building occupants, have moved to the former Emory Baptist Church on North Decatur Road, and Women's Studies has moved to Candler Library. All three programs will move into the Walker-Callaway Center when it is completed next summer. After it is vacated and further modified, the church building will house the music department, probably until a new arts center is built. Some rehearsals and recitals will be held in the church sanctuary, and several music offices will be housed in the church building.
The Fishburne Building was demolished last winter to make way for the new business school building, scheduled for completion in summer 1997.
Construction of the Shuttle Parkway South continues this summer. The roadway will connect the Fishburne deck to Asbury Circle near the Smith-Thomas-Hopkins Complex. The Clifton Road intersection with Fishburne Drive was eliminated by the business school project.
Work on the Woodruff Library Addition, originally scheduled to begin in May or June, has been postponed to accommodate additional design work necessitated by an adjusted project budget. Construction of the $23-million project should begin in late fall or early winter.
Two other projects planned for the academic core of the campus, the Atwood Chemistry Center extension and the Arts Center, are being examined to refine scope, cost, program and phasing options.
Construction documents are being prepared for the chemistry expansion project, the first phase of a planned Physical Sciences Complex which will include an expanded chemistry research wing, the Cherry Emerson Center, a physical sciences library and a new physics building.
A special task force will present its recommendations on the size and cost of the Arts Center in a report to the administration in early fall.
Faculty and staff in the law school moved into the Hugh F. MacMillan Law Library this month. Other law school employees in addition to library staff have moved into the new library this summer while asbestos abatement and renovation work are done in other parts of Gambrell Hall. The work should be done in time for the return of students this fall.
The Administration Buil-ding is slated for a phased renovation primarily affecting the first floor, former home to Emory Police Department staff, who have moved to the North Decatur Building. Minor renovation work will begin on the third floor this summer; more extensive work will begin later on the first floor and last possibly until next summer.
The $7-million Biochemi-stry Connector was recently completed, adding laboratory space for biochemistry and related departments and providing an underground link for Rollins Center, the School of Public Health and the Dental Building. The connector is located beneath the Rollins Center plaza.
Also new to the Rollins Center area is the Michael Street III parking deck, the third and final planned phase of the Michael Street deck complex. The $6.7-million deck already has been used for commencement and should be fully on-line by August.
The two-story addition to the South Clinics building should be completed this summer. Inside the building, improvements to the lighting and atrium areas are planned, as well as renovation of the space vacated by occupants of the two new floors.
Construction is expected to begin next month on the 1525 Clifton Building, so named because of the variety of health sciences-related activities it will house. Occupants of the building, located directly across the street from the new School of Public Health, will include the Seretean Center for Health Promotion, a primary care clinic, a fitness center and other related facilities. The five-story building and adjacent parking deck should be completed by late summer of 1996.
Several small houses on Clifton and North Gatewood roads will be demolished to make way for the new building. As a result, Atlanta YAD (formerly Hillel House) will move to a house on Haygood Drive, and the Testing and Evaluation Center will move to the stone house on Haygood Drive formerly occupied by the Emory Police Detectives Division.
A similar residence hall renovation at Oxford College should be mostly complete by late August, with the remaining work to be completed by the end of the year.
Information for this article was provided by Russ Seagren, director of Campus Planning and Construction.