Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / March 5, 1973, edition 1 / Page 15
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Variation March 5, 1973 out r IMlfe busrtn lust ve by Amy O'Neal Staff Writer If someone just walked up to you and said that UNC enrollment had doubled and $99 million had been spent on buildings here in the past 13 years, tendency number one would be to doubt it. Right? You run into five or six people you know in the Union every day. When spring comes, there are plenty of places to lie in the grass and watch dogs chase birds and squirrels scurry. The statement is true, however. I n 1960, the Pit was not surrounded by the Student Union, Student Stores or the Undergraduate Library; and there was no Greenlaw wall to sit on. Dey Hall did not parle or habla; Carmichae! Auditorium housed no resounding cheers; Mitchell Hall had neither quartz nor granite and the Seismological Studies Station recorded no ground tremors. None of them were standing. Craige, Ehringhaus, James and Morrison had no elevator breakdowns and Chase Cafeteria tempted no one's taste buds. That end of Manning Drive had no parking problems. N.C. Memorial Hospital stood on the other end of Manning, but many of the dental, clinical and medical facilities visible today had not yet broken ground. 'The primary determinant of growth is growth of the student body," Chancellor Ferebee Taylor said. "Because UNC is a state university, it had to accept the large numbers of state residents born after World War II who wanted to go to school and it had to provide facilities for these students." "We have now reached a point at which we can limit enrollment because the rise of in-state student applications will not be so rapid as it was in the past. "We must limit enrollment so the University can be managed in a sensible and realistic way, so that no one will feel anonymous or unimportant. Above all we must try to preserve the intangible benefits derived from the village-like atmosphere of Chapel H ill. Growing too fast could ruin the flavor of the town' Taylor said. The University plan is not to let enrollment exceed 20.000 through the rest of the decade. Fall 1972 enrollment was 18,949. According to Taylor, any students accepted to reach the 20,000 mark will be in specialized areas where there is a need for particular graduates. Mostly renovations are on tap for 1973 through 1980. Over 30 per cent of University buildings are over 32 years old, so modernizations in the medical complex and enlargements in classroom and office buildings are needed. Over $42 million was requested from the Board of Governors in the 1973 capital improvement budget. Requests for 1975 and 1977 are being estimated at $50 to $75 mi 1 1 ion. The next new building will be a dramatic art building. Construction should begin this summer. ' Authorized buildings that may go up in the next seven years, if funds can be found, include a Special Collections Library west of Wilson Library, that would house the North Carolina, the Southern History and the Rare Book collections, and a Student Health Services Building. Projects that will probably be approved by the General Assembly this year are an extension to the Wilson Library stack area and a renovation of MacNeider Hall to provide more facilities, offices and laboratory space for the School of Medicine. . The project in priority group two, that may be approved, is construction of a new gymnasium on the site of the Tin Can. A studio art building is badly needed as the Art Department enrollment has risen 500 per cent since its last building was erected. An ecology-biology-marine sciences building is needed, as well as renovations to the School of Dentistry. ; One of Taylor's pet projects is to build a Continuing Education Center that would ?lso house the Alumni Association, in order to bring alumni into the heart of the educational process. 'There are a number of projects that I'm interested in seeing completed," Taylor said, "and all of them depend on the approval of the General Assembly. Rest assured, though, that the new buildings that go up will enhance the variety and preserve the Openness of the campus." v.i.owwwxXf 1 JSSSM.. I 1 I r 7 j - j M I f M i W r " t W t ' :: " - , , 1 V it: 1 1 'i -X::.:: Kenan Lab as we see it today . . Kenan Lab as the architect dreamed it Architectural dreams and concrete forms by Bonnie Weyher Staff Writer "I guess it just struck me funny," Gordon Rutherford, director of the Planning Office, commented. "One morning I looked out one of the Student Union windows to see the dome of Wilson Library sandwiched between the Undergraduate Library and the towers of Kenan Lab; the old caught up in the new." The continuing construction of modern buildings on campus is beginning to strike other people funny as well. Kenan Lab, Hamilton Hall and Grcsnlaw are among those being described as just plain ugly. Chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor, admitted that he sometimes wishes that "Greenlaw wasn't quite so packed in and Davie wasn't quite so close to the street." He said, however, that he finds it difficult to complain since the University had such a great need for these buildings. Maurice Lee, chairman of the Faculty Building and Grounds Committee, said that he does not, in general, oppose modern architecture. Lee, also dean of the School of Business Administration, noted that the University had the choice of keeping up with new trends or requiring all buildings to be of one architectural style. He cited the University of Chicago as an example. All the buildings, new and old, are inthegothic tradition. Lee said, however, that he is "furious" about Kenan Lab. 'The finished form is not at all how it was originally presented to us. But, then again, many members of the Grounds Committee are extremely pleased with it." Lee's primary objection is to the color of the structure. Arguing that the lab is what it was always supposed to be, Rutherford said, "Nobody really understood what they were getting. They expected the exposed concrete to be white. The whole thing was just one big misunderstanding." One cannot help wondering why such misunderstandings occur. Is it because these buildings are no more than haphazard messes put up on the spur of the moment? Strangely enough, just the opposite is true. A good example is the proposed dramatic arts building. After 37 years and five complete sets of plans for construction, the Dramatic Arts Department is within reach of a new home. Since 1936, when it was founded, the department has been housed in a 120-year-old building, without suitable labs, shops or classroom space. Construction of the proposed dramatic arts building, which would be situated in the Student Union parking lot, is scheduled to begin this summer. The building should then be completed within 18 months. Why did it take 37 years to reach this stage? The answer lies in the almost endless number of evaluations and approvals needed for any University project. When the construction of a new building has been proposed by a department, it must go through evaluations by the department chairman and the administration. The Planning Office, University engineer and Physical Plant then jointly prepare a project description and cost estimate after a careful evaluation of the physical requirements. After the chancellor has assigned the project a priority number, the plans are sent to the N.C. Legislature to await approval or rejection. If approval does come, the Faculty Building and Grounds Committee, which is concerned with the architectural and spatial appearance of the campus, recommends three or four possible architects to the Chancellor. He then reviews the qualifications of these architects and turns the information over to the Board of Trustees, which makes the final decision. The architect then draws up his plans which must be approved by both the Faculty Building and Grounds Committee and the Board of Trustees. After this final stage, construction may finally begin. The plans for the dramatic arts building by architect A.G. Odell still await the approval of the Board of Trustees. But so far, the project, as conceived, seems to have survived the endless red tape. Other buildings such as Kenan Lab were not so fortunate. Perhaps through all the year; of talk, such project? became, at best, misunderstood; and, at worst, lost.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 5, 1973, edition 1
15
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