Construction crews are continuing to work on the Berry Library project and soon students will begin to see more than just the existing hole in the ground.
Late next month concrete footings will be poured and structural steel beams will arrive at the site so the building can begin to take on a more vertical form, Assistant Director of Facilities Planning Reed Bergwall told The Dartmouth.
"Spring term you'll see a lot of visible change," Bergwall said. "Suddenly the building takes shape pretty rapidly. By early summer the structural steel will be up and the floors will be poured."
Bergwall said Berry construction is still on schedule to be finished in June 2000 and the recent winter snow storms have not affected that time plan.
The timely completion of the library phase of the project is crucial, he said, to the building of Carson Hall, the academic wing of Berry.
Before Carson is built, Kiewit Computation Center must be razed and Berry must be functional so many Kiewit workers and machines can be relocated there.
"As soon as Berry is done, then we can shift people out of Kiewit so we can demolish it before we build Carson," Bergwall said. "Some people will go into Berry and some will go into Gerry."
He said he does not anticipate any problems in the move of the networking and computing equipment out of Kiewit but said it will take significant planning.
As the steel beams are erected, Bergwall said more workers will be present at the sight, rising steadily in number from between 30 and 40 currently to 100 by Summer term.
The Berry project was more complicated than other recent construction projects at the College such as the Burke Chemistry Laboratory and the Moore Psychology Building, Bergwall said, because of the involvement in the planning stages of many different departments within the library system.
He said another difficult piece of the construction will be Berry's connection to Baker Library.
A new roof will be built over the existing roof of the Baker Annex and new steel columns will be dropped into it. Then the old roof will be removed and the fourth floor of the Annex will be joined with the main floor of Berry.
"Every project has its unique pieces," Bergwall said. "This one is melding the old Baker with the new Berry ... We're in the midst of creating something new at the College."
Bergwall said heavy construction equipment will be entering and leaving the site during the vertical building phase through the area's main gate on College Street.
Pedestrian traffic from the science buildings might be affected during the steel structure construction but he said the workers are "cognizant of class changing times."
He said he is pleased students have ceased walking through the gated area making the construction work easier. "We're glad we're over that hump."
