Preparation for installation of glass under way

Work on the Student Union addition continues as the building's design wins an international design award.

The design of the Student Union addition has received a 2009 American Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Metropolitan Arts Press.

“I’m thrilled that the Student Union addition received an American Architecture Award. It’s a great honor for the college,” said John McEnrue, director of facilities design and construction.

A group of German architects recently selected 64 projects as the best new United States building and designs. The awards program – established in the 1990s – honors and recognizes outstanding new achievements and innovation for new architecture designed and built in the United States by national and international architecture firms practicing in the states.

“This award is highly sought after and will most certainly draw further attention to our campus from both here, in the United States, and from Europe,” said McEnrue.

“The award celebrates the new structure’s unique design, its symbolic relationship to the Shawangunk Mountains and, most importantly, its purpose.”

Sample of installed glass.

Project manager Garry Nack (Facilities Design and Construction) said the steel frame of the building is up and construction workers are preparing the frame for the installation of glass. The exterior framing is nearly 75 percent complete. The installation of glass is to begin this week. The entire structure should be enclosed by mid-January.

The project includes approximately 12,000 square feet of additional space and approximately 12,000 square feet of renovated space to provide students with new places to gather and hold meetings. Work on the interior renovations has been taking place throughout the process, which officially began in December 2008. The addition is set to be open in mid-2010.

On July 30, construction workers poured more than 200 yards of concrete to create the first floor of the Student Union’s addition.

For more information about the Student Union addition project, visit www.newpaltz.edu/construction/view.cfm?id=122.

The crane that is being used to install the steel frame of the Student Union addition was constructed on July 31 and Aug. 3. Erection of the frame will begin this week and is scheduled to take five to 10 weeks.

Michael Patterson, director of Student Activities and Union Services (left), and Naomi Voight, keyboard specialist, in the department's new offices in the Student Union.

The Student Union’s Purple Lounge is no more.

In mid-June, the offices of Student Activities and Union Services and the Disability Resource Center relocated to newly renovated spaces. The offices were permanently moved to make way for the building’s 11,000-square-foot addition. The first, second and third floors on the north side of the building are currently undergoing demolition in anticipation of the erection of the new Student Union addition.

The Office of Student Activities and Union Services is now in room 211. All telephone extensions remain the same.

“We’re the same friendly folks,” said Michael Patterson, director of Student Activities and Union Services. “We’re just on the opposite side of the building now.”

The Student Activities and Union Services suite has an open reception area where Naomi Voight and student employees work, as well as four private offices and a storage room.

“Our new reception area is definitely more conducive to students,” said Patterson. “It is much more accommodating for student traffic.”

The Multi-Purpose Room in the Student Union was closed down at the end of the spring semester and into the summer. Patterson said the space will be fully functional by the fall. He advised those thinking of planning an event there to keep in mind the construction noise.

The space once known as the Purple Lounge in January 2009.

The new Disability Resource Center is adjacent to the Student Activities offices. The center has a reception area and three new offices. All telephone extensions for the center and its staff will remain the same.

Meanwhile, a temporary information desk has been set up in the second floor hallway outside of the new offices. The desk will be staffed, but some services – such as Trailways bus tickets – are being offered in the Student Activities office.

Both offices will be hosting open houses in the fall.

Contract approved; construction phase draws near

An artist’s rendering of the Student Union Pavilion’s interior, which will be constructed between the Student Union Building and the Haggerty Administration Building. Work on the project is scheduled to begin later this month. Image submitted

The New York State Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the State Comptroller have blessed the Student Union Building expansion contract and work on the project is expected to begin at the end of the month.

“The hard work of students, faculty and staff who were all part of the planning and contracting has paid off,” said L. David Rooney, vice pre

sident for student affairs and chair of the Student Union Building Advisory Committee. “We are about to enter the construction phase that we have all been anxiously waiting for. Once completed, the new space will add so much to the functionality of a vital campus hub.”

Representatives from Niram Inc. of Boonton, N.J., the general contractor, visited the campus on Nov. 11 to walk through the building with members of Facilities Design and Construction to determine where and when they can start work. Niram will return the week of Nov. 17 to discuss a schedule.

Garry Nack, project manager for Facilities Design and Construction, said work on the project will begin in the Purple Lounge on the building’s second floor. The space will be renovated into office space for Student Activities and Union Services and the Disability Resource Center. Once the staff has been relocated, work will begin on the north side of the building, nearest the Haggerty Administration Building.

John McEnrue, director of Facilities Design and Construction, said the project should take 16 months to complete.

Meanwhile, changes made in preparation for the project can be seen on campus. The most visible is the Backstage Café in Parker Theatre, which is scheduled to open on Nov. 20, providing the campus community with another dining option when Jazzman’s in the Student Union Building closes. In September, the ID/Meal Plan office was relocated from the Haggerty Administration Building’s basement to Student Union Building room 100.

A ground breaking ceremony and construction schedule will be announced soon.

For more information about the project, visit www.newpaltz.edu/construction.