By Kevin Shalvey
PBN Staff Writer
As part of a seven-project capital improvement plan, Roger Williams University this month broke ground on what is tentatively called Global Heritage Hall, a 52,000-square-foot academic building university officials hope will become the centerpiece of the Bristol campus.
“It will basically be the showpiece on our academic quad,” said Joseph Pangborn, RWU vice president and chief information officer, who is in charge of capital projects at the school. He added that it will be “the core of the campus.”
The improvement plan, which includes a marine and national science building addition, a new admissions house, a new residence hall and a water infrastructure project, is an attempt to update facilities so the university can provide necessary technical and educational support for a growing student body, he said.
When President Roy J. Nirschel came to the school in 2001, about 3,000 students were enrolled in undergraduate and graduate studies. Now, the school has about 4,000 undergraduates, Pangborn said. “We have more students, we have more programs we have more focus on integrating a global perspective of civil discourse into our curriculum,” Pangborn said.
The $22 million Global Heritage Hall will house the school’s communications and foreign language departments. Along with a student newsroom, it will have a multimedia production studio, language and graphic design labs and classroom space.
But the building’s core will be the three-story, glass atrium and frontage, Shawmut Design and Construction senior project manager Mike Kearnf said. His firm is the construction manager. Boston-based architects Goody Clancy designed the building.
Much of the design was centered around “transparencies,” Kearnf said.
“Their vision was really about introducing a lot of glass to the building, so that if you’re standing on the quad you can get drawn through the building to Mount Hope Bay,” he said. “They’ve done that with curtain wall and glass – so the façade of the building is a combination of brick, metal panels and the curtain wall glass.”
That lends a modern feel – the building is “cutting edge,” he said – that is echoed by the “radius wall,” a curved outer wall that will face the bay.
“I think that you’re seeing a lot more [radius walls] on college campuses these days,” Kearnf said. “It’s an interesting element. Every time you do something that’s not a 90-degree angle, a straight wall, there’s a certain amount of precision that’s going to be needed – you have to take a certain amount of extra care and attention with all your design elements.”
Because of wetlands and other environmental sanctions on the campus, only about 70 acres of the 143-acre campus are buildable, Pangborn said, adding, “We’re running out of room very quickly,” he said. “I don’t believe we strategically intend to grow too much beyond where we are. I think the need will be modernization of facilities, better facilities and keeping up with the need for new types of learning.”
Construction followed the demolition of a 40-year-old building June 2. Lead and asbestos abatement of that building began May 19. Completion is scheduled for July 2009, a few weeks before the beginning of the fall semester, Kearnf said.
When it’s completed, the developers hope that the building will be awarded a silver-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. “When this facility opens in the fall of 2009, it will undoubtedly stand as the centerpiece building on our waterfront campus,” Nirschel said in a statement.
For the topping-off ceremony that’s to be held later this year, a beam will be on campus for students to sign. And the students aren’t the only ones getting involved in the project – Nirschel has asked to help “pull the switch” for some of the ledge blasting that’s happing this week, Kearnf said. •
