After three years of caution tape, traffic cones and obstructed sidewalks, the construction work on Smith Warehouse is finally drawing to a close.
Smith Warehouse, a 200,000 sq.-ft tobacco warehouse located off East Campus, has undergone three different phases of renovations, said Floyd Williams, one of two project managers from the Facilities Management Department responsible for Smith. Recently, the third and final phase of construction has involved the renovation of Bays 4 through 11, located in the middle of the warehouse. Williams and his team have now completed the exterior construction of the building, and all that remains is interior work such as fulfilling the different space needs of the offices housed in Smith.
Although the construction is winding down, Williams could not give an exact date of when the renovations will be complete.
The physical structure itself is not the only part of Smith that has undergone recent change; many Duke offices have been relocated to Smith in the past year. The Career Center was relocated from Page Auditorium to the warehouse in December, joining offices like DukeEngage, the Office of Global Education for Undergraduates, Robertson Scholars, Duke Performances, the Office of Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows and the Franklin Humanities Institute, among others.
Also in Smith is the Visual Studies Department, which now features a program in Information Science and Information Studies as well as the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image.
Despite the many offices and resources located in Smith, the number of students who visit the warehouse seems relatively low to some tenants. This small turnout may be attributed not to the construction going on in and around the building, but rather to an inconvenient location.
“My sense is that the number of students coming to the warehouse was affected more by transportation accessibility than the construction taking place in Smith or around Smith,” Margaret Riley, director and associate dean of the Global Education Office, wrote in an e-mail.
Students on campus seem to agree that the building is less than accessible. Sophomore Zahava Alston, a Visual Studies major, has to visit Smith nearly every day to attend art classes.
“If I didn’t have class in Smith, I probably wouldn’t go there. It’s just inconvenient,” she said.
Efforts have been made to improve transportation to and from Smith Warehouse. Since Aug. 24, the C-1 bus route includes a stop at Bay 6 of Smith on the way from East to West campuses. Still, students feel that getting to Smith is too much of a hassle.
“For upperclassmen it’s kind of difficult to get to because you have to go all the way to East,” said sophomore Emily Kintz.
And while the new construction has made Smith Warehouse more aesthetically pleasing, students don’t seem to appreciate the allure.
“The inside of Smith is a really cool place. But if students don’t need to go there, they won’t go there,” Alston said. “We’re all Duke students. We all have other things to do.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.