Renaissance in Delaware continues

The sound of President David P. Roselle playing "Good Night, Ladies" on the chimes echoed outdoors on the Mall Sunday, May 23, signaling the beginning of a ceremony to re-dedicate Memorial Hall, one of the University's landmark buildings, which opened this spring after a $9.8 million renovation. In decades past, when Memorial Hall was the home of the library, those same chimes hung behind the circulation desk and were sounded to signal the closing of the building each night.

"We are here to celebrate this remarkable building and its place in the history and legend of our University," Roselle said. "Memorial Hall stands today, after its extensive renovation, as proudly as it did [when it was first dedicated] on May 23, 1925."

The renovation project included making the building handicapped accessible; replacing windows; updating mechanical, electrical and communications systems; lowering the floor in some areas of the basement; and addressing safety codes.

Memorial Hall is now home to 74 faculty offices for the Department of English, two problem-based learning classrooms, 12 traditional classrooms (all with appropriate audiovisual support), two computer labs, one theatre classroom and the University's Writing Center.

Speaking at the dedication, Provost Mel Schiavelli said the original Memorial Library had a reading room holding 5,000 volumes, stacks built to hold the "unimaginable figure" of 125,000 volumes and subscriptions to 150 periodicals. Students numbered 560 in 1925, he said, and the circulation of library books was about 50 a day.

To put the statistics from 1925 in perspective, Schiavelli noted that today there are 2.3 million books and bound periodicals in Morris Library, as well as 2.9 million microforms and 120 network databases, not to mention 14 million hits annually on its web site.

Carol E. Hoffecker, Richards Professor of History, provided an historical overview of Memorial Hall and the statewide effort that went into its original construction.

More construction continues on campus, this time in the area off Amstel Avenue between Smith and Purnell halls. The project--scheduled for completion by early October--involves new building entrance facades and a colonnade-style arcade connecting Smith and Purnell, as well as a renovated plaza, Andy Welsh, UD director of facilities planning and construction, says.

The centerpiece of the new plaza will be an environmental sculpture featuring three components–the only running fountain on campus, newly designed seating and attractive plantings.

Accompanying these structural renovations will be dramatic changes in landscaping, including new pavers and plantings.

Welsh says the new landscaping will complement a 70-foot-diameter environmental sculpture, including the fountain with water jets that rise 2 feet and then flow over a granite cascade into a small pool. Free-form stone benches will be constructed near the fountain, and curved planting beds comprise the rest of the sculptural element.

The old elevated brick circle containing trees and shrubs has been removed, Welsh says, and the sculptural element and new plaza will all be on one level.

David E. Hollowell, UD executive vice president, says the project was undertaken to eliminate the deteriorating connector between Smith and Purnell halls, which did not provide a primary entrance facade for either building, and to take care of deterioration of the concrete surface in the plaza.

"We decided to replace the connector with an architectural element that would highlight the building entrances and complement the appearance of the other buildings in that area of the campus, from MBNA America Hall to Gore Hall," he says.

"A lot of students pass through that area each day," Hollowell says. "Our objective was to replace the surface and make the entire area more attractive than it was before."

Artist Alice Adams of Bronx, N.Y. was selected from among three finalists to design the sculpture. Specializing in public art projects, some of her recent works include "The Roundabout" at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia; "African Garden Courtyard" at P.S. 12 in Brooklyn, N.Y.; and "Beaded Circle Crossing," located in the United Airlines Terminal at the new Dallas International Airport.

Total cost of the projects is $2.4 million.