Campus Sees Renovations Over Summer
From constructing a modernized field-house to relocating crosswalks, Exeter’s Department of Facilities Management used the summer to make significant progress toward the completion of renovations in preparation for the 2017-18 school year.
The Department has revitalized the south of campus with work on the new David and Stacy Goel Center for Theater and Dance, work on a new field house and an updated entry into Love Gym after removing the iconic ramp entrance. The south campus redevelopment is expected to continue throughout the upcoming school year and summer. The Center for Theater and Dance is scheduled to be ready for use in April of 2018, and the new Field House and parking garage will be completed in late January of 2018. Along with these larger undertakings, the facilities team upgraded the lighting in the Lamont Gallery and made minor changes in Williams and Kirtland Houses to prepare them as all-gender dormitories.
“This facility will allow us to provide a level of programming that we have never been able to offer before.”
In addition to the eagerly-anticipated revitalized theater and field house, Exonians will encounter a safer campus upon their arrival. The Facilities team focused on student, faculty and staff well-being by moving crosswalks. Director of Facilities Management Mark Leighton said, “Students will also notice that the Front Street crosswalks were relocated, which significantly improves pedestrian safety.” The new crosswalks will divert students from the Bissell House driveway and the entrance to Easy Street. In addition, the Department installed new and more prominent crosswalk warning lights that will automatically turn on when a pedestrian walks through bollards on either side of the street.
The Facilities team has tried to minimize the effects of the summer construction and lead Exonians toward the renovated infrastructure. Leighton said, “A major focus of our project teams is to make sure access to Love Gym, athletic fields, and Campus Safety is safe and visible.” The department has accomplished this by utilizing both temporary and permanent walkways and signage to guide Exonians away from construction sites and to buildings both old and new.
One of these new buildings, the David and Stacy Goel Center for Theater and Dance, will replace Fisher Theater as Exeter’s performing arts hub. The center will measure 63,000 square feet and will be better suited for theatrical productions than Fisher Theater, which was originally constructed to be the school’s student center, according to senior Nick Song. Because Fisher Theater was built to be a student center, it has limitations in its role as a theater. According to Song, the building’s acoustics are of poor quality, and the wings on the stage are blocked by beams that require students to crawl to get across.
Despite the theater’s shortcomings, Song has fond memories of working in the building. “Everyone who works there, myself included, loves the place,” Song said. He added, “For me and a great number of other theater people, Fisher’s been a home away from home. It’s a home for anyone and everyone.” Upper Anna Clark, like Song, felt that the Fisher Theater had become an important part of her Exeter experience. She said, “A part of me will miss Fisher because of the role it’s played so far in my time at Exeter; but I think my excitement for the new theater will overwhelm my nostalgia for Fisher.”
Along with the Theater Department, the winter track and field and wrestling teams are also looking forward to a new facility. The old field house, The Thompson Cage, had a dirt floor that could make the air dusty as the teams practiced in the facility. Senior Chi-Chi Ikpeazu said, “There came a point where one could see the red dust particles in the sunlight; breathing in the dust after a hard workout or sneezing into a tissue and seeing the dust was not a comforting feeling.” In addition, the running surface was inconsistent, according to Coach Brandon Newbould, and the team has been unable to host home meets for the past five seasons.
The Cage was demolished in spring of 2016, and construction on the new field house began immediately after. This left many winter teams without a facility for the 2016-2017 school year. One of these teams, the winter track and field team, has had to devote practice time to traveling to the University of New Hampshire (UNH) to be able to conduct full-length practice races, and team members have had to practice outdoors and in the fitness center.
However, athletes and coaches alike think that once the construction for the new field house is finished, it will be worth the time without a facility. The new field house will feature a wrestling room and an indoor track. Newbould said, “The kids I work with have big goals and want to get the work in, so they can focus on that now instead of compromising their safety trying to get in hard training sessions in the snow.”
Ikpeazu is looking forward to using the new field house because it will afford the entire track and field team the opportunity to practice in one space. “For example, as a thrower, I won’t have to worry about hitting a stray distance runner with a 4 kg metal ball,” she said. Ikpeazu added that she expects team members to have increased enthusiasm when the whole group trains together. She said, “I’ve always found that when I can see my teammates training hard, no matter what event they do, it pushes me to do the same.”
Coach Hilary Coder expressed similar hopes for the building’s impact. “The building will allow us to become a team again, through sharing successes and challenges in person, in real time, as a unit,” she said. Coder added that having an updated facility will help attract strong athletes to Exeter. Coder said, “This facility will allow us to provide a level of programming that we have never been able to offer before.” She said that she anticipates that the effect of this building will reach beyond the Exonians who practice and compete in it. Coder said, “This building will likely impact nearly every student and adult on campus.”