Phase II of the Art Building Sparks Debate

A "retro clone of a rust built factory" was the feeling of one former Shepherdstown resident in reference to the Phase II of the CCA project at last Monday night's meeting in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies.

President Shipley alongside Doug Moss, partner of Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture, held a public meeting to reveal the plans of the second phase of the Center for Contemporary Arts building. Ultimately there will be five buildings, three of which will be the same copper exterior as the first phase that is currently being used by the art department with two additional buildings to be used for theatre space.

President Shipley said the new building will hopefully allow the demolition of Sara Cree and make way for a parking garage in the future. Phase II will include a theatre that will serve the same purpose as the Sara Cree auditorium with more functional characteristics. President Shipley said the second phase is going to make way for emerging theatre classes at Shepherd. She also calls this a capital asset for the University.

Phase II will have a less harsh exterior than Phase I. Strong copper siding will be toned down with a pleasant outdoor studio space called the Blue Ridge look-out, constructed of rough stone from a nearby quarry with heavy landscaping. The abandoned bridge from Shepherdstown to Maryland gave the inspiration for the appearance of the stone and the landscaping.

The new building will have three levels rather than the originally proposed two. The addition of the ground floor to allow for more classroom space has led to the building being shortened in length; the Phase II building will be 65 feet shorter than the first building. Originally the building was intended to be 19,000 square feet, but it has grown to just under 26,000 square feet, as a result of this increase Phase III will be slightly smaller.

According to the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Richard Helldobler, construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2011 with an estimated construction period of 18 months. Upon completion the cost of Phase II will be approximately 13.5 million dollars of which construction will account for 11 million dollars. The Vice President of Administration and Finance, Dr. Edward Magee, said the funding for this project has come from state issued bonding which is paid by lottery revenues.

Several Shepherdstown community members, Shepherd faculty and staff, and representatives from the Contemporary American Theatre Festival (CATF) attended the meeting on August 23. Citizens voiced their opinions on the current and future buildings.

One former resident stated the buildings are "not a harmo­nious addition to the University or to the community of Shep­herdstown" and asked for the exterior of the second phase, or at least the final phase, be changed. The CATF has attract­ed many people from 33 differ­ent states to the Shepherd cam­pus in the summer time with their many plays and pro­ductions. After the completion of Phase II the CATF will relocate their seasonal activi­ties from the theatre in Sara Cree to the new building. One man cited the current building, in conjunction with the CATF as a reason for moving to the area. He called Shepherdstown the "intellectual center of the entire state" due to the construction and planning of the 21st century style build­ing that is the CCA.

The copper exterior seems to be the main dispute of the back and fourth battle of the plans. A long time resident of Shepherd­stown suggested the architects change the exterior or place a large wall in front of it also call­ing it a "monstrosity". She also said she appreciated the interior and its purpose for the students, but the exterior was "incredibly ugly".

As many people know, cop­per over time changes its ap­pearance from being bright and shiny as a freshly polished penny to a dull brown color and then to a green color referred to as patina. The eventual change in color of the buildings to the green patina will allow them to blend in with the colors of the landscape. The copper has even been a topic of student opinion.

"I like the concept, but the copper is very unattractive," said one Shepherd student.

All three phases will be highly sustainable buildings according to Doug Moss, part­ner of Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture. They want these buildings to have as light of foot print on the environment as pos­sible. This can mean how the building is constructed, what materials are used, along with the effective used of water resourc­es among others. A non-profit in­stitution in Wash­ington DC called the U.S. Green Building Council developed a mon­itoring device to analyze the sus­tainability of a building. There are four levels of sustainability. The University did not obtain a certification from the USGBC for the first phase, but now will be meeting a silver level of sus­tainability.

This back and fourth clash over the CCA seems it will con­tinue, however, the University is not considered a part of the historic downtown Shepherd­stown, so it seems this may bring a dead end to the fight. Dr. Helldobler said "We have examples of log houses, brick houses, modern subdivisions, all of which demonstrate how we have moved culturally in liv­ing and learning spaces." The CCA is just another example of how the community has evolved. One man at the meet­ing said "think about when this community was all log homes and someone began building a brick home, they all said ‘There goes the neighborhood!'"