Towell to house different facilities
Dance Building will relocate to temporary structure
By Naoki Narus
By now many students have gotten used to the green fences
surrounding Powell Library. And Towell, the temporary structure
erected as a substitute for UCLA’s college library, has become
familiar as well.
In fact, students said they wonder if Towell is really
"temporary." And they may be right.
With the onslaught of campus construction bringing more and more
buildings under the knife, Towell may exist long after students
once again commence studying in the domed tower of Powell
Library.
Campus facilities scheduled for seismic renovation include the
Dance Building, situated adjacent to Towell Library, said Sarah
Jensen, associate director for Capital Programs designing and
project management.
Towell will then become the temporary Dance Building.
Although it will take about 18 months to get the Dance Building
renovated, when they start the seismic repair depends on when and
how FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) funding responds to
the university, officials said.
"But the (Towell) building will be taken down by the end of
1998," Jensen said.
Because it was designed as a temporary structure, Towell tent
will eventually fall apart by itself if not disassembled, Jensen
explained.
Some students said they felt relieved by the fact that Towell is
indeed meant to be "temporary."
"It’s well constructed, and I’m sure it serves its purpose but I
think it’s really ugly," said undeclared sophomore Jason Pedroza.
"(The shape of the building) is like a dry-cleaner factory and the
color doesn’t go with anything around it."
In addition to the exterior unpopularity, there have been some
interior problems as well.
"Inside it’s really noisy, I never study very well," Pedroza
said. "It’s so small that they have many people squished together.
And the noise (of turning pages) seems to be amplified in
there."
However, students will still have to wait for a while before the
construction fences around Powell Library disappear.
The major portion of seismic renovation on Powell will be over
by the end of March 1995. But the reference room will need another
two years to be completely renovated, said Jensen. "We will have to
take all the bricks of the ceiling down (to get renovation done)
and put them all back up," Jensen said. "It takes time."
It is still unknown whether or not Powell Library will reopen
before the completion of renovation for the reference room,
officials said.
By the end of 1998, all the major constructions and seismic
renovations will be over, according to Jensen.
Haines Hall will be seismically renovated between January 1997
and December 1998, but it will be substituted by the Anderson
Graduate School of Management building and/or Dodd Hall. There
might be minor repairs, for example, on the Schoenberg building,
Jensen said.
However, some students are anxious as to whether there might be
another major construction after 1998 which would need a temporary
building.
"They should have done a better job (to make Towell look nicer
and more permanent)," said Akira Go, a fifth-year student of
Japanese. "Now that we have it and it’s already paid for, it would
not be wise to wish another building after tearing it down."
It cost about $2.8 million to build Towell. Disassembling the
structure and restoring the quadrangle between Men’s Gym and Dance
Building is projected to cost $400,000.