Volume CXXXIII, Number 1 September 12, 2003 f

Work-in-progress Kanbar Hall will host departments, classes
EVAN KOHN
ORIENT STAFF

Excitement is growing as construction proceeds on Bowdoin's newest academic building. Completion of the $9 million dollar Kanbar Hall is scheduled for June 2004.

The construction site for Kanbar Hall is located on the intersection of Bath Road and Sills Drive. Kanbar Hall will be complete in June 2004. (Hans Law, Bowdoin Orient)

Located on the southwest corner of Bath Road and Sills Drive, next to Sills Hall and Cleveland Hall, Kanbar will provide classrooms, faculty offices and workspace for students. The psychology department will occupy the basement, second and third floors, as well as parts of the first floor, while the Education Department, Quantitative Skills Program, Writing Project, and Baldwin Center for Learning and Teaching will also share the first floor.

Capital Projects Program Manager Don Borkowski is enthusiastic about the new building. "It will be quite an attractive building--brick, metal and a lot of glass on the main façade. The interior has a contemporary look." The building will have three entrances including one on the quad between Sills Hall and Hatch Science Library.

Another location considered for Kanbar was the open space north of Massachusetts Hall, however the current development site is the only corner location undeveloped with enough space. Originally the building was oriented to face the quad. Later, the committee decided to make the corner side more "open and welcoming" as a statement that "you've arrived at Bowdoin."

Up to 70 construction workers will be involved in the construction Monday through Friday. The Sills quad will serve as a staging area for trailers and construction vehicles.

Psychology Department Chair Louisa Slowiaczek, a member of the Bowdoin Academic Building Committee with Borkowski during the more than two-plus years of planning, said, "We've been waiting a long time for this. It's been a balancing act between funding and working on the design. There is just so much involved in planning a building."

In describing the design as "state of the art," Slowiaczek said, "The Psychology Department has sub-par space in Banister right now, so we are extremely excited to move into Kanbar. People won't be as anxious to leave the building, compared to Banister," said Slowiaczek. She said the building will be a better showcase for what people in psychology really do. Included in the design are resource rooms on the third floor with mirrored glass for observation rooms and auditory and visual perception lab space.

The space will also unite the neuroscience classes within the Psychology Department with the rest of the department's classes. All neuroscience classes will meet in the basement and utilize the teaching and research labs.

Education Department Chair Nancy Jennings is excited about the move to Kanbar. She said, "I'm very delighted about [Kanbar]. It will be great to be on the main part of campus." Jennings also said she was pleased to share a building with the other departments, since they share many students with common interests.

The entire Education Department will move into the first floor, where there will be offices, a resource room, a quiet lounge study area, a computer lab and technology room, seminar room, and a 50-seat classroom. The main resource room, referred to by some of the department chairs as the "Learning Lounge," will be shared, along with office space, with the Baldwin Center, the Quantitative Skills Program, and the Writing Project.

Writing Project Director Kathleen O'Connor said, "After ten years of no specific program space, it will be wonderful to have one location for all our records and resources." The Writing Project, which helps students improve their writing skills through peer discussions, previously had no designated space, with students meeting for appointments at such locations as the Café or Moulton Union.

O'Connor agreed that it is an appropriate combination of departments moving into Kanbar. She noted how the Psychology and Education Departments, as well as the three academic programs, all have related missions, thus making the space more identifiable for academic support.

"There is real potential. Bowdoin's three primary academic advisory programs' communication will certainly improve just by the proximity the facility will provide us all," Director of the Quantitative Skills Program Linda Kirstein said. The Quantitative Skills Program also had no designated space.

"The architects called Kanbar the 'Brain Building' at first, because of the disciplines that would use the facility--Psychology, Education and academic advisory programs." said O'Connor. "We insisted they use some heart too, because learning requires both."

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