oct2015enews

October 2015 ENews

Message From the Dean:

“Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes”

What a whirlwind we have had at Seaton…and beyond! Since our last eNewsletter announcing the securing of bonding authority and funding for our Seaton Revitalization project, things have really heated up around Seaton.

Change #1

First of all, the Groundbreaking was a wonderful celebratory event and by many accounts was the ‘most fun groundbreaking I have ever attended.’ I know I had a great time not only because I knew we were moving forward, but because as I surveyed the massive crowd I saw so many faces of alumni and friends who have dedicated their time, energy and finances to making a new and fitting Seaton a reality. The change? So many friends, alumni and supporters talked to me and among themselves of how our college has gone from ‘being on the chopping block’ in the ‘90s to being heralded by President Schulz and our visiting elected officials as housing the top academic programs in the State of Kansas and beyond.

Follow this link to see the Groundbreaking Ceremony:

http://apdesign.k-state.edu/about/seaton/

Change #2

The move out of the east side of Seaton has been nothing short of Herculean! We all know what a pain it is to move a household so imagine deciding what to keep, reuse, store and relocate from the furnishings and belongings of nearly 750 students, 70 faculty and staff offices, a departmental office, 5 shops, decades of stored artifacts, memorials and servers. We have filled countless recycling and refuse dumpsters, 10 self-storage units, two full-size shipping containers, hundreds of feet of shelving at the K-State Library annex and a few bays of a metal building serving as our temporary shop at a local benevolent business. Our faculty are double, triple and quadruple bunked and many are relocated in the ‘office condos’ in the old Edmunds Center…this is a euphemism for the fact that they have a cubicle there! Our first year students, PhD and MS Architecture students are now on the third floor of west Seaton while almost all of our second through fifth year students completely fill a mostly wide-open 42,000SF former call center on the west side of the Manhattan. Why almost all, because for the first time ever in the fall, we have a cohort of 4^th-year architecture students at our Orvieto program.

Change #3

Life in the Diaspora that is our facility at the airport (APDWest) has been interesting. First of all we were in a mad dash to get it ready for use given the protracted legislative session and the delay in releasing funds. The fact that the building was habitable if not fully functional in a mere five weeks after having been empty for approximately five years is not only impressive, but a testament to the hard work and dedication of K-State crews and APDesign staff. While there have been numerous hiccups, including significant delays in network connectivity (if you know anyone at ‘Ablank&blank’ please pressure them for us) and lost shipments (D**L apparently shipped something to the Ethernet…literally,) our faculty and students have been inventive in assuring the research, teaching, learning and outreach excellence expected in our programs. We are running shuttles every 20 minutes to and from campus, have full-time security in place, have food trucks showing up at lunch time and have most of the production amenities including plotting and model-making equipment online. We are also nearing completion of a 6000SF metal building which will serve as our shop and will hopefully remain ours to house our larger design/build activities after the Seaton Project is completed. All in all, as I expected, our students and faculty have shown the resiliency and can-do attitude I have come to love at K-State APDesign. While there are still some hurdles, including the necessity to limit our hours of operation (yes, the building is shuttered from 1:00AM-7:00AM,) the quality and expectations of work has not diminished.

Follow this link to see pictures of APDWest and our new shop facility:http://apdesign.k-state.edu/apdesign_west/apdesign_west.html

Change #4

We are underway! Seaton is coming down! Well, not all of it, just the shop buildings between Mechanics Hall in the northwest corner and the east 1910 front building of Seaton. On top of that, partitions, lots of drywall, lathe and plaster and decrepit systems are being removed from Mechanics Hall and the parts of east Seaton to remain. JE Dunn has set up their field office in the first floor SE Seaton studio, formally the Norris Design Studio and are dedicated to making this whole project a learning experience for our students and faculty.

Follow this link to see pictures of the work on site: http://apdesign.k-state.edu/renovation

Change #5

The Kansas Board of Regents has made it official, approving the naming of the Mechanics Hall and the new entry building to our college ‘Regnier Hall’ in recognition of the Regnier family’s lead gift towards our building project! Needless to say we are very thankful for their dedication to our project and commitment to sustaining the quality of our academic programs.

Change #6

We are officially in the $1 billion Innovation and Inspiration Campaign!It is likely to get pretty crazy around Seaton and given that the wall directly behind the computer I am writing this on is the demising wall of the construction project, if I hope to preserve my hearing and sanity, I suspect I will want to spend more time on the road raising our remaining contributions to this Campaign! On that front we have raised over $14 Million so far in the campaign, just over half of our $28 million goal! Of the monies raised so far in the campaign, approximately $7.5 million is for the building while the remaining monies target student, faculty and program support. The excitement of the project, appreciation for the ingrained quality of our faculty and programs, dedication to the growth our students and support of the State of Kansas and K-State Administration have all contributed to a renewed spirit of philanthropy amongst our base of alumni and friends.

http://inspire.k-state.edu/apdesign

So while I really have no clue as to what David Bowie’s lyrics reference, I find myself humming the ditty often as I walk to and from, and through Seaton or as I drive out to APDesign West. There are lots of changes afoot and considerable opportunities for more positive change in the future!

Thanks to all of you for being a part of the past, present and future!

Tim de Noble, AIA

Dean, APDesign

Description: im de Noble, AIA Timothy de Noble, Professor and Dean