Rhode Island Hall is currently being completely gutted in a project costing the University $12 million.
But the interior renovations are scheduled to be completed by this fall, according to Mike McCormick, assistant vice president of planning, design and construction.
"We're trying to get back to the spirit of the original building," McCormick said, which featured open spaces and lots of natural light. "When you enter into the building, it will be a new atmosphere."
Rhode Island Hall, Brown's first natural sciences building, was home to an assortmentof University services, including the Office of International Programs, Psychological Services and the Writing Fellows program, McCormick said. Most of those services have now been consolidated into the newly renovated J. Walter Wilson building.
The renovated building will be home to the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, which has been at 70 Waterman St. since the program's inception in 2004.
McCormick called the project a "good combination of facilities needs meeting the academic needs." It had been recognized as an "underutilized" building, he said.
The renovation process meant "completely scoop the building out," McCormick said. The building's interior has been gutted and will be completely redone. After initial demolition, all that was left were stone walls and a high ceiling. It looked "pretty dramatic," he said.
The University is also taking this opportunity to bring the building up to code, install an elevator and more stairs and update the mechanical systems, he said.
Over the years, the building had become very cluttered and closed off, so the original light and beauty of the building were compromised, McCormick said. Entering the building before the renovations resulted in feeling "almost immediately lost" - which was not good for Psychological Services, he quipped.
But the renovated building will use large skylights, windows and the natural light they allow in to give the new building a more open feel, McCormick said.
Rhode Island Hall will also feature a large classroom with a retractable wall to expand capacity for larger events, increased faculty and graduate student office space, an archaeological lab and climate-controlled artifact storage space in the basement, said Susan Alcock, director of the
Joukowsky Institute.
The Joukowsky family has secured the loan of a collection of artifacts from Petra, Jordan, that will be displayed throughout the building, she said.
McCormick compared Rhode Island Hall's renovations to those of Pembroke Hall, with the similar intent to "bring back some of the beauty of the historic building."
The project has been particularly interesting because of the intersection of the work with the future occupants, McCormick said. The process of gutting the interior has revealed artifacts and other matters of interest to the archaeologists who will soon call the building home.
The building was originally built with stone rubble walls which were covered with stucco on the outside and plaster on the inside, McCormick said. A narrow strip of the original stone will be left exposed after the renovation as an homage to the historic nature of the building, he said.
Rhode Island Hall has an interesting history, Alcock said. As part of the University's science program, the building used to be used for taxidermy, she said, and renovators found a taxidermied piece of skin. They also discovered a piece of human bone, another relic from the building's days as a science lab, Alcock said.
In the end, "it's all about remembering Rhode Island Hall," Alcock said. Students have been inspired by the history of the building and have conducted in-depth studies of its story, using the renovations as a great opportunity, she said.
"One of the best things about this project has been student engagement," Alcock said.
The plans were created with input from members of the Joukowsky Institute, Alcock said. While 70 Waterman Street has been a comfortable home, she said she looks forward to moving because the Institute has
outgrown it.
