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March 28, 2024

Keyser Quad reopens to positive reception

By KAREN WANG | September 7, 2017

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LOUIE HOFFENBERG/PHOTOGRAPHY STAFF Structural repairs to Krieger and the Colonnade are almost complete.

Keyser Quad and the Breezeway reopened to students in July after 15 months of renovation. The construction project focused on making structural and waterproofing repairs to Krieger Hall and the Colonnade. Though some refurbishments and adjustments still need to be finished, the project is mostly complete.

Associate Director of Design and Construction at Johns Hopkins Facilities and Real Estate Jim Peach said the most challenging aspect of construction was the noise and disruption it created for the student body. As students had also mentioned the inconvenience the construction posed for both the navigation and ambience of the campus, Peach had to coordinate work with the time of day.

“The overall complexity and large scope of the project required the work to happen in close proximity to those inside Krieger Hall and amongst the buildings surrounding the Keyser Quad,” Peach wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “Managing the most disruptive work to occur only during certain times of the day, while meeting a planned completion date took a great deal of planning.”

Sophomore Kristen Park noted that getting to classes is much easier now than it had been the year before.

“It’s nice to be able to walk through the Breezeway to get to classes,” Park said. “It’s a lot more convenient, because I don’t have to take the detour.”

Sophomore Varun Kedia stated that opening the quad helped make the campus feel like a more open space.

“It really just opens up campus and gives it a fresh vibe which I hadn’t been able to see here yet,” Kedia said.

Lighting of the Quads, which is traditionally held on Keyser Quad shortly before the holidays, was held on Wyman Quad last year. Sophomore Zooey He expressed excitement at being able to see Lighting of the Quads at Keyser Quad for the first time.

“We’ll have it in the right place,” he said.

In general, sophomores responded favorably, saying the quad was a central part of campus. Another campus tradition that takes place there includes the placement of plastic lawn flamingos in the spring.

“[Keyser Quad] was my favorite part of campus when I visited here for SOHOP,” sophomore Yoolim Seo said. “When they put the pink flamingos up [on the quad], it was really lively [and] I loved it.”

Peach noted renewed appreciation of the quad.

“Keyser Quad is one of Homewood’s most iconic spaces, and having most of it off line for 15 months during the project was quite a disruption to the everyday activities of the campus,” he wrote.

Older students such as junior Anthony Garay also appreciated of the quad’s completion.

“It’s great to see the quad back open again, not just because it’s so much easier to get to class but because the campus feels whole again,” Garay wrote. “It’s nice to see that area bustling again.”

Garay also referred to changes in Krieger Hall.

“I was pleasantly surprised to see how nice some of the newly renovated classrooms on the third floor look,” he wrote.

Senior Judy Wang described the reopening as surreal.

“It’s literally felt like years since I saw that piece of grass,” Wang wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “Now the pink flamingos can come back home.”


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