Renovations to McClendon Tower aim to connect the third and fourth floors in a more intimate way.
Residence Life and Housing Services announced plans to add a spiral staircase to connect the floors to create an open space conducive to individual and small group study.
Since its opening in 2003, the third floor of the tower has housed a game room while the fourth floor is occupied by Bella Union. Although the coffee shop is a popular venue for students to work, requests from undergraduates for more study space led RLHS to consider options to increase utilization of the third floor, said Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residence life. Renovations over the summer and the addition of new furniture aimed to convert the area to a more comfortable study space.
“We installed some additional outlets for computer use as well as painted the room,” Deb LoBiondo, assistant dean for residence life, wrote in an e-mail. “We refurbished tables we already had in our warehouse and ordered new chairs.”
Gonzalez said even though the staircase has not yet been installed, student responses to the new furniture have been positive.
“We see profound potential in McClendon Tower,” he said. “Already we’ve seen several small pockets of students studying and getting work done.”
The McClendon Tower construction project represents RLHS’s efforts to meet perceived demand for more study space, especially in relatively remote areas on West Campus like Keohane and Edens Quadrangles. Students are generally optimistic about the possibilities that McClendon Tower offers in terms of study space.
“It’s a pity that people don’t really use [the third floor],” sophomore Jeanette Cheng said. “There’s a lot of potential for greater use, especially as a study area for people far from The Loop or the Great Hall.”
For students who do use the third floor of the tower, however, the construction may invite unwanted new visitors and noise.
“Right now the third floor is quiet—like a library. Adding a staircase would make the space more open, so that the third floor could lose some of its quietness,” said sophomore Allison Khoo, an Edens resident. “I’m not sure how I feel about this plan.”
Although administrators said they could not give specific estimates for the project’s cost and completion date, LoBiondo said costs for the third floor renovations have been “minimal.”
Gonzalez said he believes the renovations will be finished fairly quickly so that students can use the new space.
“We are encouraged by what we’ve seen so far by how the students are using this area,” Gonzalez said. “We believe the staircase will improve these trends.”
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