by Francis Hallahan
On Thursday, July 3rd, a small group of us were lead by Emily on a tour of the new Physics Library and DeMeritt Hall construction project. The building is almost complete, and Heather hopes to be moving into her new digs by the end of the month, or early August.
The new Physics Library is on the corner of DeMeritt as before, closest to Dimond. But this time, they will have three sides of windows – both corner walls, and the wall on the inside hallway. I understand that this glass wall will be fitted with glass shelves, and will be used to display antique physics and astronomy items. The overall footprint of the library is about the same, and will still include compact shelving. The color scheme through the library, and all DeMeritt, is very gentle and natural looking, with various shades of greens and tans.
The building is a marvel of new techniques and features to make it as “green” as possible, at least as far as the budget allowed. The building does have what has become a traditional “bite” taken out of it (on the side facing Murkland), where the budget which was approved at the start of the project couldn’t cover all of the costs of materials once ground was broken. (Dimond and Kingsbury also have these “bites.”)
Some of the “green features” can be seen in the photos here. They include metal awnings on the sunny sides of the building. (I’m sure that these will be much appreciated by the resident pigeon population!) The central stairs are “open” and have a “floating” look to them. The railings are not completely enclosed, and the stair rises are vented. This allows for better air flow. All rooms are equipped with window sensors to that if windows are opened, the heat or a/c is turned off to that room. Much classroom lighting is indirect, motion-sensored, and equipped with dimmers. Some of the classrooms have leveled, or stadium-like seating, and the rise of the different levels are set with vents for the heat or a/c. One very neat ADA feature is the central elevator. It is positioned to open on each floor on one side into the hallway, or the other side directly into a classroom.
There are four places we saw where the old meets the new. On the top/second floor, there is a hallway leading to a gathering area balcony where the new flooring comes right up to the old flooring. They have sided one entire wall of this balcony area with old classroom chalkboards, which will allow students to write whatever they please as they pass by. The balcony overlooks a common area on the main/first floor where the stone Physics crest/emblem which used to greet students over the main entrance has now been mounted, as part of a display which will include historical DeMeritt photos. In the basement, we were shown a room where two walls were fitted with old wooden and glass display cabinets and drawers which were saved before the demolition.
So for now, two out of four branch libraries have new homes. Chemistry is next, possibly. They have a new book lift to allow better collection access to all three floors. However, it doesn’t seem that the Iddles Wing of Parsons (home of the Chemistry Library) is being included in the renovation plans for the rest of the building. As for BioSci in Kendall, well Kendall is included in Phase 3 of the UNH Master Plan, which also includes renovations to Hamilton-Smith, Morrill, Jackson Lab, and part 2 of 3 for Paul Arts. But then Phase 4 of the Master Plan includes a new, all-encompassing Science Library, so who knows…
Posted by Rachel Gogan 
Posted by Rachel Gogan 
