New West Campus building funded

By PAULA SHAKI
Collegian Staff Writer

HERSHEY -- Students in the College of Engineering may have to walk a lot farther to get to class as the University continues to develop the new West Campus.

The University Board of Trustees approved plans and the release of funds Saturday for constructing the Leonhard Building on the new West Campus, but they also raised some concern for the aesthetic beauty of the campus and diminishing green space.

The University has been planning the West Campus expansion, part of a $15 million "Operation Jump Start" project, since 1987 and hopes to move the entire College of Engineering across Atherton Street.

The Leonhard Building, designed by GSGSB/H, Inc. of Clarks Summit, will be a 95,200 square-foot building made of brick, glass and bands of cast stone, compatible with the nearby Applied Research Laboratory, said Gary Schultz, senior vice president for finance.

"We try to harmonize with existing buildings but not reproduce them exactly," Schultz said.

The building will have classrooms and offices for the departments of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering and Nuclear Engineering on three main floors with another floor for storage, he said.

Main entrances to Leonhard Building will be on the north and south ends, and the exterior of the building will have an aluminum window system, a protective canopy over one entrance and horizontal lines in the brick, similar to the research lab.

Several trustees raised questions about the appearance of the building.

"My quick observation is that there are too many stripes on this building," said Trustee Marian U. Coppersmith Fredman. "It takes away from the beauty of the blocks."

Trustee Obie Snider said the University does a great job designing the interior of buildings, but the new buildings are square boxes. He said the University needs to preserve the character of buildings on campus.

Trustee Ben Novak also said the design was not very inspiring.

"We could do a lot better. The architecture is botching the space," he said.

Novak and Undergraduate Student Government President Mike King objected to building on the campus's green space.

"We should look at saving green space," Novak said. "We are getting a city atmosphere on campus even though we're in the middle of Pennsylvania in the mountains. . . . We should take a look at what we're doing to the campus and the environment."

King said the University has already lost Pollock fields and the central area of campus is becoming more urban.

"The campus should stay as green as possible without losing what we need to do," he said.

King was also concerned that these buildings are being built, but the HUB/Robeson expansion still has not moved forward. The University is waiting for money from the state to move the Paul Robeson Cultural Center to the HUB. Students are using a facility from 1942 and they need a new union building, he said.

Despite these objections to the Leonhard Building's design and use of campus green space, the board approved the release of the University's $5 million share of the $15 million required for the project. The other $10 million is provided by the state Department of General Services.

"We're building great buildings, but we're not winning any architectural awards. We need to put more emphasis on the character of our buildings," Snider said.