Pounding noises, construction worker counseling and dust allergy flare-ups will continue to color the routine of first- and second-years whose rooms border the courtyard between most of the underclassmen dorms.

Students should not expect the construction noise of the Turck Residence Hall expansion project to end any time soon. The project is scheduled to finish in Fall 2004.

However, the Residential Life Office assures students that the results will make this expansion effort a worthwhile endeavor.

“Turck is an old building,” Director of Residential Life Sarah Griesse said. “I think that there will be some meaningful improvements for students.”

A specific plan for Turck began to develop in the spring of 2002, when living space for students became an issue that Residential Life could no longer ignore. “We had a higher demand for housing than we were able to satisfy,” Griesse said.

She added that her office took a careful look at the entire campus in making a decision about increasing housing space. The first major project was to add a fourth floor to Wallace Hall, one of the more cost-effective options. “Whenever you can add on to a building, it’s a lot less expensive [than constructing a new one],” Griesse said.

The fourth floor, nicknamed the “Wallace Attic,” opened to students this year.

Next in line for an expansion was Turck, which, according to Griesse, was the best choice both economically and spatially. Construction began in the middle of May, as soon as the last students had left for the summer.

But despite Macalester’s recent financial struggles, both the Board of Trustees and the Budget and Finance Committee approved the expansion projects, allotting about $4 million to pay for the additional rooms in Wallace and Turck.

According to Griesse, Kraus-Anderson, the contracting company the college hired for the Turck project, is one of the most reputable contracting companies in the cities. Griesse said that the company has served the college very well in the past. Its relationship with Macalester dates back to 1981 when the company remodeled Wallace Residence Hall. Kraus-Anderson’s was also contracted to restore Carnegie Hall in 1990 and Old Main in 1993.

The plan for the new Turck rooms is to keep the same closet layout and general dimensions, but there will be new sinks and lighting, new carpet, and a new fire-sprinkler system.

Residential Life has also ordered new furniture, which Griesse calls “tool-free” due to the ease with which students will be able to re-arrange their beds, desks and shelves.

Lounges on the southeast corners of the building, near the current entryway, will be furnished with kitchenettes. Some dorms on the second floor will be study rooms and lounges. Also, the space now known as the Turck Formal Lounge will be an exercise room if the construction project does not go over budget.

In addition to the new rooms, the expansion project includes plans to construct a walkway between Turck and Bigelow on the second and third floors, which Griesse hopes will “link together the communities in both dorms.”

The expansion plans also include an elevator to make Turck accessible to the physically handicapped.

The new Turck rooms will not cost any more than the current Turck rooms, in accordance with Residential Life’s “flat rate” policy. The policy ensures that whatever hall a student lives in, and whether it’s a single, double, triple or quad, the cost is consistent.

Residential Life expected complaints about the construction, and have not been disappointed in this regard. Some Turck residents have complained about dust coming in through the windows and triggering allergies, wheelbarrows rattling through the hallways and most of all, the incessant noise.

“This is a really noisy month, and we asked the residents through the RAs for forgiveness, because it’s just what we have to do,” Griesse said.

Griesse promised that by October most of the construction work will be inside. She also says that once the cold weather arrives, no drafty holes from the construction will be left open.

John Wolf is one of the construction workers tackling the project. His day starts at 7 a.m. and goes until 3:30 p.m. Though some students may not think so, Wolf says that he and his co-workers understand that they are disturbing students. “We try to keep the noise down in the mornings,” Wolf said. “The kids are sleeping and probably want their privacy.”

Students’ reaction to the noise ranges from tolerance to hatred. Aradan Thompson ’07, who lives on the second floor of Turck, does not mind the noise. “It kind of helps me get up on the days I need to get up for class, and the days I don’t, I can usually sleep through it, no problem,” Thompson said.

Fourth-floor Turck resident Dave Hoedaman ’07 agreed, referring to the pounding and banging as a “secondary alarm clock.” Hoedaman does not enjoy the noise as much on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when he does not have an early class. “Whenever I go to bed late, planning to sleep in, I get woken up at 8:30 a.m. and have to go somewhere else to take a nap,” Hoedaman said.

Nora Johnson ’07, who lives on the first floor of Turck, said she is annoyed when she hears drilling at 7 a.m. outside of her door, yet she can understand the need for some renovations. “I don’t think I’m going to get any benefits from it, but next year’s class probably will,” she said.

Some students find the construction workers themselves annoying. “They loiter in the hall and use the hall phone, and one time they were talking outside of my door,” Turck resident Jeff Herbst ’07 said.

Fourth-floor Turck resident David Auguston ’07, meanwhile, is amused by the presence of the workers. “Sometimes they sit and talk to you on their lunch breaks,” he said. “They’ll tell me to stay in school, or I’ll end up doing construction, too.”