Courtesy of Ayers Saint Gross

Architectural firm Ayers Saint Gross revealed new details of the campus master plan in two listening sessions on Monday. Highlights of the plan include transforming Hubbard Hall back into the College’s library with an extension and renovation, constructing a new dining hall and renovating the majority of the College Houses.

Even though the campus plan has become more concrete over the past year, this stage of planning is still focused on where projects will be located, not on the expected design or timeline for completion.

“What we’re really doing here is talking about land use planning and prioritization for facilities coming up. We’re not designing buildings at the moment,” Ayers Saint Gross representative Kevin Petersen said. “What you’re seeing here is not necessarily the final layouts or designs.”

However, Ayers Saint Gross has narrowed down the initial design pitches from this spring on where new or renovated facilities might go. For example, the firm has selected the library renovation option that includes moving the library’s functions from Hawthorne-Longfellow Library (H-L) to Hubbard.

“[H-L] lacks facilities and infrastructure to support the mission, programming and community for a 21st century library,” the presentation at the listening session read.

As part of this move, Hubbard would receive an addition off the back of the building and H-L would be torn down and made into green space. Draft renderings of Hubbard and the addition also show glass atriums connecting the two buildings, as well as an elevator and other accessibility features. However, Ayers Saint Gross noted that it hopes to preserve the original character of Hubbard.

“It is the centerpiece of the campus. When you think about where its location is, it has some of the most beautiful spaces on campus,” Petersen said. “I think they need to be restored and elevated to what they once were.”

To replace the faculty office and classroom capacity in Hubbard, as well as create new offices for the ten faculty lines added as a part of the Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity, the firm also selected a location for a new academic building. In this version of the plan, the new academic building would be constructed next to the Roux Center for the Environment.

Based on recommendations from prior listening sessions, Ayers Saint Gross also proposed the construction of a new dining hall, which it currently plans to place on College Street across from the new academic building and between Mills Hall and Moore Hall. Not only does this move provide more space for the Dining Service, but it could also allow the Division of Student Affairs to consolidate into Moulton Union.

Additionally, the long-awaited updates to lab spaces in Druckenmiller Hall are also expected to be completed under the next campus master plan. This also includes renovating Hatch Science Library into new lab spaces to meet demand for these spaces.

Other key academic buildings are also expected to receive accessibility upgrades. The Visual Arts Center and Gibson Hall, both of which are currently inaccessible, are slated to receive elevators and other updates to make the buildings accessible.

Other significant projects in the next campus plan include renovations to the College Houses. In a map showing levels of deferred maintenance in campus buildings, all the College Houses—except for Boody-Johnson House, which was renovated in 2019—had medium to high levels of deferred maintenance.

The current draft of the plan also recommends pedestrian improvements on campus. This includes collaboration with the Town of Brunswick to increase pedestrian safety at key crosswalks on the borders of campus.

“In some of those areas, it doesn’t feel like a pedestrian should be there. There’s very little infrastructure,” Petersen said. “So really elevating the treatment, elevating the signage, really trying to slow down cars, but also let people know they’re coming up to an institutional college environment where there’s a high amount of pedestrian traffic.”

Other aspects of the campus plan introduced on Monday were less concrete and planned for further in the future. The firm expects that strategic updates to Smith Union, improvements to pedestrian and cyclist safety on Coffin Street and a relocation of Morrell Gymnasium to the Farley Field House and Pickard Fields athletics complex may also be included in the next plan.

Having received another round of feedback from campus community members, a final version of the campus plan is expected to be presented and put to a vote at the Board of Trustees meeting in October.