Princeton summer spent constructing new campus

While many renovation projects have yet to be completed, East Pyne Hall and the Marquand Art Museum rejoined the University's functioning buildings at the beginning of this year. Witherspoon Hall also rejoined Rockefeller College after a year undergoing remodelling.

Chancellor Green, previously the campus student center, is set to be completed by December and will join Chancellor Green and the building opposite Henry House as home of the humanities at Princeton.

"Once Chancellor Green is complete, we will have a breathtaking home for the humanities at Princeton," President Tilghman said in an email.

Whitman College

Most notably perhaps, construction on Whitman College — to be a four-year residential college — will begin in December, said vice president of facilities Michael McKay.

Whitman is going to be located on the site of the Lenz Tennis Center, which celebrated PagodaFest this past weekend to commemorate the courts' rich history.

Planning for Whitman College began several years ago as students, faculty and administration met to determine the design of the new college. In the end, they agreed on a collegiate gothic theme.

"The architecture will be very similar — reminiscent of — Foulke, Henry '01 and Pyne Halls," said Vice President Tom Wright '62 in an email.

"The stone being used is the same, and the design will be similar (though Whitman College will contain two good-sized courtyards, entirely enclosed in one case and enclosed on three sides in the other)."

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Though the Whitman College project should be one of the largest construction projects in recent years, Wright noted that the project should be relatively self-contained and less disruptive than other construction.

While students will be adjusting to the change of life when construction starts on Whitman College, other departments like building services and grounds and maintenance will look to expand their workforces to meet future University needs.

"As Whitman expands we'll have commensurate staff to meet the needs of the students there," director of building services Jonathan Baer said.

1903 Hall

While construction might seem prevalent on campus and on the minds of administrators, 1903 Hall is notably not undergoing scheduled renovations.

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The project was delayed a year because of housing concerns, said Adam Rockman, coordinator of undergraduate housing.

"Basically, we found there weren't going to be enough beds on campus for the upperclassmen," Rockman said. "Although we don't guarantee housing, we wanted to make housing on campus available if at all possible."

In an email sent to wait-listed students in July, the Housing Department said it delayed renovations to open up 80 beds in 1903 Hall for undergraduate and graduate student housing.

For those on the wait-list, the stress of not knowing about accommodations was relieved with the Housing department's summer email.

"The most important thing was knowing I was going to live with my friends," said Travis Muir '05, one of the dozens of students wait-listed.

Tilghman's vision

While construction may incorporate a variety of architectural styles, the University has an overall plan and vision for construction during Tilghman's tenure.

Tilghman said that the newest buildings should be durable buildings — projects that are built to last for 100-200 years for "the simple reason that we will still be here at that time."

Though Princeton combines eclectic styles of architecture around campus, Tilghman added that new buildings should be designed with their surroundings in mind.

"A building in the historic part of the campus should be sensitive to the styles of 100-200 years ago," said Tilghman in an email, "while the new parts of the campus (e.g. across Washington Road) is appropriate for 21st century architectural styles such as that of Frank Gehry and Rafael Vinoly."