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January 10, 2008, 09:55 AM ET
Shop Talk: How to Hide a Building, Transform an Outlet Store, and More
Tricks for building below grade: Thinking of tucking a new building away underground? The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor did just that back in 1981, burying a new law library underneath the law school’s quadrangle. But the project’s architect — the well-known Modernist Gunnar Birkerts, who taught at the university from 1959 to 1990 — worked hard to bring daylight into the building through a huge V-shaped skylight. The Michigan Daily explains how.
Asking for trouble? Some institutions try to avoid historic designations for buildings or campus districts, but Oregon State University hopes to create a 59-building historic district on its campus that would represent the university’s growth from 1880 until after World War II, according to the Corvallis Gazette-Times. Among the buildings protected would be Benton Hall, the university’s first building, and Apperson Hall (above), an 1898 structure originally known as Mechanical Hall. The district would be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the designation would protect the appearance of building exteriors while permitting changes to the interiors. “It’s only going to be a benefit,” said Patty McIntosh, the university’s campus planning manager. “It doesn’t hold us back.”
Transforming an outlet store: For less than $4-million, Alamance Community College has bought a former Burlington Coat Factory outlet store and transformed it into a 46,000-square-foot basic-skills and continuing-education facility, according to The Times-News, a newspaper in Burlington, N.C. The college bought the building for $1.3-million and spent $2.5-million on renovations, which were overseen by Moser Mayer Phoenix Associates. Dave Parker, the facility’s director, says visitors who remember the outlet store won’t recognize the building now.
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