The crash of falling cinder blocks and the buzz of jackhammers have replaced the chirping of alarm clocks to wake up East Green residents as the university moves forward with multi-million dollar renovations to Lincoln and Gamertsfelder Halls.
Loud noises and blocked views from the construction even partly prompted one pair of roommates to move out of Johnson because they wanted to get some undisturbed sleep.
[The construction] wasn't the biggest factor
but it was a good bit of the overall reason why we wanted to move said sophomore Rachel Barnette, who moved out of Johnson Hall ' across from Lincoln ' to Read Hall after three weeks. We wanted to sleep occasionally.
Lincoln was closed at the end of Spring Quarter last year for a full-scale $7.83 million renovation to be completed by August 2008, said John Kotowski, associate vice president for Facilities. Gamertsfelder's roof is being redone ' though residents still live there ' as part of a $1.4 million job that will be finished at the end of this quarter.
Fifteen months is the normal time frame for the renovation of a residence hall of Lincoln's size, Kotowski said. Lincoln has a 203-person bed capacity, according to OU's Residence Life Web site. Adams Hall, which has a 350-person capacity, was recently completed in one year ' a schedule which Kotowski said was accelerated.
Kotowski said the renovated Lincoln will include central air conditioning, a laundry area, sinks and kitchenettes in the rooms and some classrooms. The results should mimic Biddle Hall and the Read-Johnson Scholars Complex, which were renovated recently.
After Lincoln's completion, Shively Hallwill be renovated, followed by the rest of the halls on East Green as part of a $156 million construction project that will continue for about 10 years.
Pragmatically they're not necessarily fitting the current needs of students and of residence life
Kotowski said of East Green's residence halls, which were built in the 1940s and 1950s.
Sophomore Steph Poulos' first encountered construction Spring Quarter when she was a resident on the second floor in Lincoln. Construction had begun on the roof and although Poulos said the noise wasn't overwhelming, her window was blocked by the scaffolding. Now a resident of Gamertsfelder, she keeps her window and shades closed because the workers' ladder rests just outside her room.
If I don't see [construction]
I get weirded out because I've gotten used to it in the past six months
she said.
Freshman Sara Flecher called the construction an eyesore. Although construction had already begun when she saw the campus last spring, she said she thought it would be completed before she started school.
Kotowski said he hasn't heard any complaints from the students but he understands the difficulties that go along with multiple construction projects occurring simultaneously.
It's challenging
and I think the students have been good about helping us deal with that
Kotowski said. It certainly is an issue
but with an institution of our size and the amount of work and the age of buildings
it's just a constant undertaking to try to keep them indecent shape to meet the needs of our students.
' Post reporter Anne Elliott contributed to this story.
