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| The original renovation plan (inset) for Fletcher Hall was panned by alumni. The new plan above maintains the building's character while incorporating 20,000 square feet of additional space and addressing years of water intrusion. |
UL Lafayette announced Monday that it has approved a redesign of renovations to the university’s architecture and visual arts building. The announcement follows a vocal outcry from alumni who panned the original renovation design as incongruent with the existing building and, well, just plain ugly.
The renovation of Fletcher Hall was precipitated mainly by years of water intrusion as well as the need to add more square footage. But when the design by Ziler Architects of Lafayette was released in December, alumni, most notably architects, cried foul. They even took to social media to register their displeasure and push for a re-do. The renovation plan released last month included incorporating red brick into the project to make the building jibe with the broader architecture on campus, but ended up making Fletcher Hall look more like a juvenile detention center than a place for creativity and learning. The new plan provides an additional 20,000 square feet of space on the second floor of the ’70s-era edifice.
“Refinements to the final design occurred through cooperative efforts,” says Gordon Brooks, dean of the College of the Arts, in Monday’s press release. “The project expanded beyond its primary role to remediate water damage and improve safety. Design also was a significant focus.”
Construction on the project is expected to get under way in April.
More from the press release:
At a Dec. 20 meeting, the state’s Office of Facility Planning and Control concurred with the project architect that a sprinkler and fire-alarm system would be a necessary addition to the project, according to Bill Crist, director of the university’s Facilities Management. At that meeting, he notified the state office that the architect and the university were reviewing designs to develop a final rendering.
The university allocated $500,000 in additional funding for the sprinkler and fire-alarm system, according to Crist.
“Refinements to the final design occurred through cooperative efforts,” said Gordon Brooks, dean of the College of the Arts. “The project expanded beyond its primary role to remediate water damage and improve safety. Design also was a significant focus.”
On Dec. 28, a six-person group met on campus to deliberate conceptual design options for Fletcher Hall: Branden Leger and Brant Patout, students majoring in architecture; Kerrie Butts and John Maak, architecture graduates from UL Lafayette; and Geoff Gjertson and Hector LaSala, members of the school’s faculty.
UL Lafayette alumnus Charles Beazley, a local architect, also was instrumental in critiquing the project.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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