Following months of construction, the interior renovation project of UCSD’s Galbraith Hall is nearly complete. The renovation, which started in February, features the addition of a new lecture hall, study areas, and office and studio spaces.
The new lecture hall seats 417 students and has a demonstration bench and sink for chemistry demonstrations, similar to those found in York Hall. The hall also features two 90-inch flat panel displays and a 17-foot screen. The new lecture hall will allow for the addition of 15 three-hour classes during the standard Monday-Wednesday-Friday and Tuesday-Thursday time slots from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The hall will be available for classes beginning in Summer Session I.
“The renovation exceeded our expectations, and I think that students will find the space enjoyable,” Director of Space Planning Tom Allen said. “The architect did a great job of allowing the light from the building’s original skylights to filter into most of the spaces outside of the enclosed lecture hall.”
The new hall is listed, for enrollment purposes, as “GH 242” and will house large lectures, such as BILD 10, which will take place in the new hall in Fall Quarter 2013. The room itself rests in what looks like a giant box in what used to be a study area atrium on the second floor of the Center for Library and Instructional Computing Services, or CLICS.
“It was a pretty clever idea on the campus administration’s part to put a two-story lecture hall inside the old atrium space,” project construction executive Jim Mills said.
Two new study areas, which seat total of 120 students, will be available for beginning June 3. The rooms will be open 24/7 during Week 10 and finals week. Details are still being worked out for summer hours and for Week 1 through Week 9 of fall quarter. Both areas have a wireless Internet connection and tables with electrical outlets. Two restrooms and a small group study room can be found in the larger study room.
“The two study spaces are dedicated for student use, and the additional classes that can be offered because of the new lecture hall should help alleviate some of the impacted courses and help reduce the time to degree for some students,” Allen said. “I consider all of these a benefit to the students.”
Additional space for the Theatre and Dance instructional studios for acting, dance, and design will also be provided for the undergraduate instructional program, in addition to office spaces for Academic Affairs, particularly for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Environmental Systems office. Priorities for other office spaces are still under review.
In late 2011, a group of students broke into the then-abandoned CLICS building and claimed it as a student-run study space. For much of the latter two quarters last year, students used the space as a large study space under the Occupy CLICS movement and had vandalized much of the building.
Mills said that when he and his company, Mortenson, first began construction six month ago, much of the building was still in the state it was during Occupy CLICS.
“There was still a lot of graffiti on the walls, elevators and windows,” Mills said. “But everything has been painted and is brand new.”
Galbraith Hall’s renovated space also includes new hydration stations and the renovation and expansion of existing restrooms.
