The new addition to the Hopkins Sheridan Libraries, the Brody Learning Commons, will continue to develop along the originally planned aggressive design and development schedule, despite the current economic climate.
Though not all the money needed to fund this $30 million project has been raised, Senior Associate Dean for Finance and Administration Fred Puddester, is confident that enough money will be raised
"There have been no changes in plans due to the economy," he said.
"We are on target with fundraising," Dean of University Libraries and Museums Winston Tabb said.
According to Tabb, 80 percent of the money has already been raised.
Brian Shields, Communications and Marketing Manager for the Sheridan Libraries, said that all of the funding for the project will come from private support.
Both Puddester and Tabb said that the recession was viewed as a serious concern with regards to the creation of the Brody Learning Commons.
"[However,] because the project is relatively inexpensive, because the Brody's were so impactful on campus and because of the University's pledge to improving the undergraduate experience, the project has gone forward," Tabb said.
"Money is not being appropriated from other sources to pay for the Brody Learning Commons," Puddester said.
"It is a fabulous project, and it captures the imagination of donors when they are asked to contribute."
The fact that the project continues to move forward "speaks to the dedicated alumni population that keeps giving," Puddester said.
As a result of the continued steady funding, the tight project timeline has experienced no changes in scheduling.
According to Tabb, the tentative date for the groundbreaking of the addition to the library is June 6, 2010, followed by two years of intense construction.
The projected move-in date for the building is July 1, 2012.
Currently, the building is in the schematic design stage, said Martin Kajic, the project manager on the Brody Learning Commons.
In this stage, the site, the south side of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, is identified and plans are drawn up to fit the new learning center into the existing structure.
This stage is slated for completion later this month, or in early October.
The next stage, design development, will commence and continue into the summer of 2012, even as construction begins on the Commons building itself.
According to Tabb, one big change occurred in the design of the Brody Learning Commons building between the program design phase, which occurred last year, and the recent design phase.
"We realized that it would be a big mistake not to have an entrance on the south side, near the Merrick Barn," Tabb explained.
"The library is physically at the center of campus, and with this extra door, students will be able to enter from all directions."
This entrance also takes into account the possibility of a future Arts walk project that would connect Homewood Museum to the Baltimore Museum of Art.
The south entrance would open onto this Arts walk, further connecting the Hopkins campus.
Aside from the change in the number of entrances to the Brody Learning Commons, the original vision for the building remains intact, according to Puddester.
The learning center is still focused on incorporating natural light throughout the building and creating more group study spaces. Plans for an integrated glass walled café have continued.
Many of the design aspects of the Brody Learning Commons were aspects students and faculty wanted to see in the new learning space.
"We are still dealing with members of the student advisory committee [for the library]," Tabb said.
Student opinions and ideas were solicited and incorporated into the design of the Brody Learning Commons through interviews last year.
A student design contest will be launched in the first week of October in which Hopkins students can submit their own designs for the café and for a group study room.
"This helps us to see what students are imagining in their minds," Tabb said.
According to senior Zach Epstein-Peterson, a member of the Library Student Advisory Committee, the student committee has been able to have two meetings with the architects of the project.
At each meeting, two or three graduate students, and three of four undergraduates were present, in addition to members of the library staff.
"[The planners of the project] are generally interested with what students have to say," Epstein-Peterson said. "They have good intentions to get the students involved, but they realize they have to balance student input with getting the project done."
Newly-inaugurated President Ronald Daniels is also involved in the development of the Brody Learning Commons.
"He is focused on the café as a social and community space," Tabb said.
According to Tabb, Daniels views the learning commons as the future center of the Hopkins Homewood community.
One of the upcoming challenges in the construction of the Brody Learning Commons will be to schedule construction so that library will be able to remain open for student use.
Tabb is planning so that the construction will have a minimum impact on library users. The noisiest parts of construction, the breakthroughs in the levels of MSE Library that will eventually connect it to the Brody Learning Commons, will hopefully be completed during the summer.
The class of 2013 will be the first Hopkins class to utilize the Brody Learning Commons.
"The day it opens, students will come into it and use it in ways we can't imagine," Tabb said.
The Brody Learning Commons are being designed with flexibility in mind. Many spaces within the building will have multiple uses: for example, classrooms will be integrated into the new rare-books showroom.
"My vision for the Brody Learning Commons is for it to be more full than we ever imagined, and for it to be flexible enough that we can meet the needs of students who have not yet been born," Tabb said.