With funds secured to renovate the West Union building and other major campus facilities, the University faces several significant logistical challenges in the next few years.
When the West Union building is closed for construction, Duke will have to find alternate locations for dining on campus. The University will also need to relocate many administrative offices from the building.
Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said the University has not yet decided whether West Union construction will proceed all at once—thereby significantly limiting campus dining space.
“One of the things we don’t know is whether it’s best to empty [West Union] and go all at once or whether to go at it piece-by-piece, which will take longer,” Trask said. “All at once creates all sorts of logistical issues to deal with.... Our guess is dining will have to stop in the West Union for some period of time [either way], but we don’t know yet for how long or when.”
Trask said the University may build a new facility on the west side of the Bryan Center Plaza next to Kilgo Quadrangle as an alternative to West Union dining space. He added that the building would likely become a permanent replacement for some current restaurants in West Union.
Although some restaurants will definitely return to West Union after construction, most administrative offices in the building will likely be permanently relocated, Trask said. In the renovation period, Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta will be responsible for finding spaces for offices like the Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Life.
Trask said offices and centers that students often go to—such as the DukeCard office—will be moved to locations that are easily accessible to students like the Link or the Bryan Center.
The funding for the renovation of West Union and two other campus buildings will come from the Duke Endowment.
Earlier this month, Duke Endowment Chair Neil Williams announced that the foundation—which is separate from the University—would give Duke $80 million to restore Baldwin Auditorium, the West Union building and Page Auditorium. All three buildings were part of the campus’ original construction and have not had major repairs for nearly 80 years, Trask said.
Renovations to Baldwin will cost roughly $15 to $20 million, and West Union construction will cost $50 to $60 million, Trask said, adding that budget estimates for Page have not been set. Although the Endowment gift was intended to cover all costs associated with construction, Trask said the University may have to raise additional funds to cover some aspects of the project.
Construction on Baldwin is set to start before the end of 2011, but work on West Union and Page will not start until the summer of 2012 at the earliest, The Chronicle previously reported. Moneta said West Union construction might not start for another two years because of the amount of planning necessary.
The architectural firm Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, Inc.—which handled major renovations to Perkins Library and the School of Law—will oversee West Union construction. Pfeiffer Partners Architects, a firm with experience in designing performing arts centers, will oversee renovations to Baldwin Auditorium.
Although there are currently no concrete plans for West Union, Moneta said the University hopes to foster a more community-based dining experience at Duke, instead of the common “grab and go” mentality among students.
“Dining should really be much more complementary to the communal experience at Duke,” Moneta said. “One of the key visions is really providing an absolute state-of-the-art dining facility and dining environment.”
Moneta added that the University has plans to transform the West Union space along Main West Quadrangle including the Old Trinity Room and the Alumni Lounge into a “great living room” area for West Campus residents.
During the summer, the University will form a project advisory committee to oversee construction, Trask said. President Richard Brodhead will chair the committee, which will consist of a mix of students and administrators including Rick Johnson, assistant vice president for housing and dining, Moneta and Trask. Moneta said the committee will likely be broken into several subgroups charged with supervising different aspects of the project.
The University will also select students in the summer to serve on the committee, Trask said, adding that students will likely include officers from Duke Student Government.
“We’re going to have some process to go through and ask students what they think to have is important,” Trask said. “There’s inevitable tradeoffs between things people will like to have, what the building can accommodate and the budget.”
The construction takes priority over projects such as New Campus, an effort intended to renovate Central Campus that was delayed by the recession. New Campus construction will not begin before these projects are completed. The Board of Trustees discussed a first step to New Campus at its February meeting, but no plans for construction have been announced.
Talks of renovating West Union began nearly 10 years ago, Trask said. Administrators started discussing the project more thoroughly after the West Campus Plaza—which was considered a higher priority—was completed in 2006.
“West Union is almost 80 years old and it hasn’t had... a major upgrade since it was done,” Trask said. “There was a time eight to nine years ago when the mechanical systems would mysteriously start smoking.”
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