The construction of the Center for Sciences and Innovation is currently on schedule for completion by the spring of 2014, according to John Greene, director of campus planning and sustainability. The CSI will feature a new Freshii’s outlet by next fall, according to David Tuttle, associate vice president of student affairs and dean of students.
The construction entered “Phase 3″ in March of last year. This portion of the project consists of completing work on three component buildings: 3A (the Cowles-wing), 3B (the new building) and 3C (Marrs McLean Science Center).
According to Greene, phase 3A will be mostly completed by June of this summer and classes will be held there this fall.
This building will be used primarily by the biology and psychology departments. The new phase 3B building is scheduled for completion in Nov. 2013, and will be occupied by various departments including the engineering science, computer science and chemistry departments.
Phase 3C is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2014 and, according to Greene, will most likely be the last leg of the construction. “I hope so…I think we all hope so,” Greene said.
Several departments that are currently housed in residences on Oakmont Court will move back onto campus after the university completes construction on CSI. The university has no specific plans for these soon-to-be vacated Oakmont houses.
“In terms of specifics [for the Oakmont houses], we haven’t really got any because nobody moves out until the middle of this year,” said Dennis Ahlburg, president of the university. “The strategic plan may have priorities that would involve the use of those properties… We have an agreement with Monte Vista that we’ll continue to use four of them as residences.”
(For more information regarding the Monte Vista lawsuit, read “Trinity fights Monte Vista suit” from the Oct. 19, 2012 issue.)
CSI itself is not going to be the only new feature on campus, as the university has announced plans for CSI to feature a “science cafe”. David Tuttle, dean of students, previously announced in an early-December campus-wide email that the CSI will host a Freshii’s franchise.
“We were going to put a POD [Provisions On Demand] in CSI, but some of the faculty felt that would be insufficient. In hindsight, they were right. ARAMARK switched gears […] and identified the Freshiis option instead,” Tuttle said in a later e-mail correspondence. “If all goes well it will open in the fall.”
As part of the phased construction, the university has temporarily closed the pedestrian path between the CSI and the Coates Library. This closure is due to the addition of a retaining wall in that region. This path will be re-opened “probably this summer,” Greene said.
According to a 2012 university press release, the $127 million Center for the Sciences and Innovation “is the most ambitious construction project in Trinity’s history”
