After tremendous progress this summer, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center renovation and expansion’s first phase officially reached the halfway point this month. Construction workers are now focused on enclosing the building for winter. That process includes installing window frames and the triple pane, energy-efficient glass that will reduce heating costs both when work moves exclusively inside and when the building opens next fall.

As preparation for winter accelerated, though, an unusually dry September created good conditions for progress on the building’s exterior: There’s brick on the music building’s east wall, and the center core’s roof is complete. The building’s shape has emerged, and inside the building’s shell, construction crews will continue adding walls to create classrooms and offices. Once the building is enclosed, the campus community will begin to notice less action outside at the site as the work inside ramps up this winter.

The renovation and expansion is still on pace for its scheduled July 2012 completion.  To date, the college has raised $22 million of the $24 million in gifts needed to complete the project.

October 7 2011

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