Tuesday Sept. 6 at 9:30 a.m., the former Dali museum will host its first class as the new Harbor Hall. Walbridge, a Michigan-based construction company, began construction of the building on June 13.
“We hope to be completely finished with the building in a couple weeks,” said Bo Dring, project manager on the site.
Harbor Hall is home to the new Department of Verbal and Visual arts, which combines the English, Composition and Graphic Design programs. The new building has 25 offices for three faculty departments and three classrooms—one downstairs and two upstairs.
Visiting assistant professor Amy Robinson, who teaches British literature, carried boxes into her new office on a recent Friday morning.
“I am hoping students will still come down here, it’s not too far of a walk is it?” Robinson said. “Some students have asked if they can drive.”
Before Harbor Hall, professors from the three departments were scattered around campus in the Peter Rudy Wallace building and Davis Hall.
“Now all of us will be together,” Robinson said. “We are hoping to collaborate on projects between English and graphic design.”
The facilities were originally offered to the Journalism and Media Studies Department but JMS faculty voted to stay in their current space. For the graphic design department the ample space at Harbor Hall allows for large format printing presses necessary to advance learning. Erica Greenburg-Schneider is a visiting professor in the graphic design department; her background is as a master printer and print publisher.
“I love the space,” Greenberg-Schneider said.
Right now, the graphic design department is geared towards two years of training for juniors and seniors. Greenberg-Schneider says they hope to expand the program into a four-year bachelor’s in studio art with a concentration on graphic design.
“That would allow for an art minor for those students who are undecided, too,” she said.
Graphic design department professors Neil Matthiessen and Lucy Trimarco are also master print makers so the evolution seemed natural. Friends of Greenberg-Schneider’s donated type presses to the department for the new facility.
“Type is the most important basic of space foundations as a graphic designer,” Greenberg-Schneider said.
Above the desk in the lobby is a painting of Dali. The lobby faces the North entrance, which is where students will enter for classes. Construction isn’t yet complete but Jeff Reisberg, director of campus commuting, says classes and offices will be open on September 6.
“There is still much to be done,” Reisberg said. “But the double doors in the main lobby will remain closed until the rest of the building is finished.”
Photo Gallery (click to enlarge)
Top photo by Daniel Mutter
Photo gallery by Christopher Guinn
