Faculty Design and Construction Services anticipates that the new additions to the English building will be completed and ready for classes by fall 2018.
The 37-year-old English building has been undergoing construction since last summer. According to Radhika Dharanipalan, the Facility Design and Construction Services project manager, the only remaining items to replace are the floors and the building’s storefront.
The complete renovation in the English building will include: new HVAC equipment in the machine room, a new cooling tower, new ceilings, LED lights in the hallways, new paint, new flooring, a new elevator, new handrails and guardrails in the main stairwell, upgrades to the restrooms and a new storefront.
These improvements are intended to benefit the prosperity of students and teachers on campus, at which they can feel comfortable and inspired Dharanipalan said.
She said that after the project is finished, the English department will also have different classrooms available to them. The building will have two new classrooms with computers provided for students, a tiered classroom for film classes and a lecture hall for 55 students.
New students lounges, a vending space, a copier location, new exterior seating under the building’s overhang and a tiered plaza will also be new features once construction is completed.
The building’s outdated fixtures and finishes needed to be brought up to code so that the numerous classes held there throughout the day can operate more smoothly and adequately, according to Dharanipalan.
“The English building should function more efficiently from a mechanical standpoint,” Dharanipalan said. “The new storefront should have greater aesthetic appeal while also improving mechanical performance by having glazing with better-insulated glass.”
KSU has more future construction and renovation project plans, such as building out Chastain Point suite 115 for the College of the Arts, a lab addition to the Marietta campus, improvements toward Kennesaw Place and University Commons, and advancements to the Academic Learning Center located on the Kennesaw campus.