More Modernization of the Tulane Campus

fallenchemist
Sat, 19 Apr 2014 12:51:56 +0000

@Living61 - This is a bit hard to describe if you don’t know the campus well, but I will try. for the most part, Tulane’s campus is divided into 3 sections. The Academic Quad Section is where most classes take place and is the part between St. Charles (the streetcar, Gibson Hall) and Freret (Percival Stern Hall). The middle section (between Freret and Willow and bordered by Broadway on the one edge) I guess you could call the Housing Section, as it contains most of the dorms, the LBC (student center) and Bruff (dining). It also has some classrooms, especially Newcomb Hall on the Broadway edge, and the main library. The last section between Willow and Claiborne is the Athletic Section. All the construction will be in the Housing section.

The first phase will be to replace the house that was the residence of the Dean back when there was a separate Newcomb College. This is between the LBC and the main library, and this is where the new dining facility will be. This shouldn’t be very disruptive. It isn’t near any dorm or the most highly used classrooms, nor is it a high foot traffic section that isn’t easily avoided. So it shouldn’t affect the vast majority of classroom situations or any of the dorms as far as sleeping, studying, etc.

The second phase will start in 2017 sometime. Could be Fall 2017, I’m not sure. This phase has the two new dorms, and It sounds like they will do both these at the same time. The one dorm, where the Caroline Richardson Building is now, will be the least disruptive. That particular spot on campus is probably the least trafficked right now. Noise wise, if they have to pile drive in the first stage of construction (after tear-down of course) it will affect the residents in Warren and Weatherhead the most. Otherwise it is surrounded by the art gallery and the power plant.

The other dorm will go where Bruff currently stands. This will be the most disruptive, I would think, because you have several dorms close by. You have Butler Hall and Mayer Residences across the street, and Phelps, Irby, Wall and Paterson dorms surrounding it on the same side of the street. I would think they will try and do the teardown and pile driving in the summer, since these are the noisiest parts of the process. I am making assumptions based on what happened when they built Weatherhead during my D’s freshman year as to what will be involved, such as pile driving. I am not a contractor. That one affected Butler and Mayer Residence the most because it was right behind them, otherwise it was a similar situation to what the replacement of CR will be like, not a heavy foot traffic area at all. But the pile driving, unfortunately, was during the semester.

So for incoming freshmen, they could have 3 years with only the new dining facility being under construction. I really don’t see that as being very disruptive to day-to-day life on campus. None of the construction will affect classes, as far as I can tell. I think I have the schedule straight, assuming the reporting is accurate. I am also assuming that CR and Bruff will be torn down and completely new construction will take place, but it isn’t like I have seen the plans. Personally I cannot imagine how they could convert what is already there into dorms, that makes no sense to me. But again I am not an expert. I was just relaying info that might otherwise be missed by interested parties. I can comment on where these constructions will take place since I know the campus well, and I can intelligently(?) speculate on how disruptive it is likely to be based on the assumptions I mention.

Bottom line, I wouldn’t let any of this affect a decision to attend Tulane. Most schools have something under construction at some point during a 4 year span, I would think. But especially for incoming students in Fall 2014, it shouldn’t be too big a deal. It won’t be any worse than when they built Weatherhead, and my D survived that just fine, and she got the worst of it since it was right outside her dorm window.