The HT Project

Feb 2020, bes

A Proposal to MC Administration

Haldeman-Thiessen (HT) Science Building has been an integral part of the Monmouth College campus for 46 years. Opening in 1974 the building housed the physical science departments of Physics, Math and Computer Science, Psychology, Chemistry and Biology. The basement was also the home of a small theater. In addition to the academic departments, the physical plant currently operates boilers (for heat) in the basement and the evaporators (for cooling) on the roof that remotely provided hot and cold water to heat and cool numerous campus buildings. Even today, the CSB air conditioning (cooling) comes from the roof of HT. In the fall of 2013, all these academic departments moved into the newly constructed Center for Science and Business (CSB).

The luxury of being able to transition from one building to another was quite nice allowing the new residents of CSB to transition over slowly during the summer/fall of 2013. Frequent return trips over the subsequent years allowed department to gathered needed equipment and supplies. Needless to say, not all items in HT were needed in CSB. At this time, HT has become essentially abandoned.

As is the case for "abandoned" properties, numerous failures resulted. Water leaks were found days after they started, vandals broke in and caused damage on multiple occasions, leftover chemicals were improperly handed, items of value have been stolen, and the space has general become in total disarray.

If HT were not the home to the heating and cooling facilities, this building would be slated for demolition. The physical structure of the building is strong, but the room heating and AC (where existent) were built at a time that did not full respect the conservation practices of the day. Repairs to the HVAC system were nearly impossible due to the building design. Any renovation to the building would require a complete internal demolition.

So, what is the future of HT? A number of costly options exist: 1) A new heating/cooling plant could be constructed in a alternate location (like in the HT parking lot) and then HT demolished, 2) A complete renovation of the existing building could be done in order to use this space as a new student center, 3) bits and pieces of HT could be re-used for facilities storage (currently being done), or 4) there was even talk about building a football field observation deck that could host VIPs. What has happened in the last few months is that the first floor of HT has been partitioned, so that the space once known as the "fish bowl" can be used as a MC call center. This recent work is a great leap forward considering the abandoned state of the building.

It is time to prepare for the future of HT. It is clear that no large dollars are available to renovate or demo HT, so what next? I propose the following initiatives begin as soon as possible.

Initiatives

Cleaning out the building

1) Remove all non-permanent items, store if critical, sell if desired, or trash if necessary. The following departments can be in charge of their respective floors and work at a pace that is conducive to their desires. The administration should set a target date and negotiate with individual departments on timing, as well as needed resources. The existing dumpster could be used, but not interfere with current needs (ie. trash could be staged at the rear of the building and dumped as space is available).

- Physics (1st floor/basement)

This space has been vacated ~50% and the IS department, I believe has been using some physics spaces for storage.

- Math and Comp Sci (2nd floor - west side)

This space is currently being used for physical plant storage. M&CS have 99% vacated the space. The chair of this department (Mayfield) should be contacted and asked to sign off on the space.

- Psychology (2nd floor - east side)

This space is 95% vacated. The chair of this department (Dopheide) should be contacted and asked to sign off on the space.

- Chemistry (3rd floor)

This space is highly vandalized with lots of items not necessary in CSB, but many do have value. If this proposal is acceptable to the administration, the Kieft summer research students (summer 2020) will assist chemistry faculty/staff in the removal of non-permanent items.

- Biology (4th floor)

This space is highly vandalized with lots of items not necessary in CSB, but many do have value.

2) Remove/sell/store/redistribute furnishings.

- Office desks and book shelves.

- Lab benches/sinks. This will be a more challenging task since it will require some plumbing resources.

Note: some asbestos impregnated sinks exist and need to be removed without physical breakage.

- Built-in classroom seating...???...leave for now?

Begin using the building

With the understanding that heating and cooling facilities will NOT be provided, limited restrooms (1st floor only) spaces can be allocated to the following:

- MC Call center (fish bowl - done)

- Engineering/physics project space

- Esports Arena (HT 109) - see bes

- Maker space/woodworking shop - see bes and jw

- Chemistry alternative plastics project - see bes

- other