A mockup of the North addition to Central Hall.
Courtesy | Richard Péwé
One of the planned projects will expand Central Hall
Hillsdale College will build a new visitor center and an extension to Central Hall, President Larry Arnn announced at convocation Nov. 13.
Other plans feature a memorial arch and updates to the facade of the Moss Laboratory building.
“The plans are contrived to fit the campus in form and function,” Arnn told The Collegian.
Construction on the new visitor center will begin in the spring, even though the college still needs to raise $8–9 million for the project, according to Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé. Construction should last about 15 months.
“We have about half of what is needed for the visitor center,” Péwé said.
The exterior plans of Central Hall are finished, but the college has yet to finalize the interior plans, according to Péwé.
“There will be some updates to the existing interior of Central Hall,” Péwé said. “Normally, the college would wait to start until our supporters have donated or pledged nearly all the funding needed. But in this case there is a logistical need to start the visitor center this spring.”
The new Central Hall addition will extend the north-facing side of the building into the quad, designs show.
Arnn said the designs finish the building, which was not originally built to be part of a quad.
“The design is in keeping with the original design of the building,” Arnn said. “It will house academic administration and several classrooms and be more fully what it was meant to be: the center of our campus.”
The Central Hall construction is not yet funded, Arnn said.
The college recently replaced a historic limestone threshold at the entrance to the building.
“The original was so worn it had become a trip hazard,” Péwé said. “Of course, we have preserved the original.”
The current timeline for the start of Central Hall construction is uncertain. The college hopes to raise money for updates to the facade of Moss Laboratory before starting the memorial arch, which needs to be finished before work on Central Hall can begin, according to Péwé.
Architect Duncan Stroik, who designed Christ Chapel, is also designing the memorial arch, Arnn said at convocation.
“The memorial will remind us who we are and provide definition to what we think will be a splendid architectural setting,” Arnn told The Collegian.
In addition to those projects, architects have drawn up plans for a south library addition, Péwé said.
Library Director Maurine McCourry said the expansion would include space for archives, including an office, a reading room, and storage.
“It will be stunningly beautiful, like the north addition,” McCourry said.
While plans have been drawn, the project has not been approved and would likely start after the north quad construction is finished, McCourry said. The brick and limestone addition will include a pavilion with a brick dome leading students from the south quad to the north quad, according to architect firm Michael G. Imber architect Alice Arnn.
The addition will convert the existing Heritage Room into a new archives center, Alice Arnn said. The archives space will add a display hall, a vault for rare book storage, office and work space, and a new reading room.
“The new reading room will significantly expand the Heritage Room footprint and allow students to study among both great books and great architecture,” she said.
The addition will also include a cafe, space for the Writing Center and Academic Services, private study carrel desks, and offices for staff.
“The architecture of the formal reading room spaces builds upon the tradition of great reading rooms like the Wren Library at Cambridge, the Boston Athenaeum, and the New York Public Library,” Alice Arnn said. “Woven into the building will be statues and detailing that focuses on the themes of philosophy, poetry, and wonder.”
