Facilities Management announced Tuesday that plans to close Faunce Arch for construction had been indefinitely postponed. The decision was made late last week due to a "desire to minimize the impact on the campus community," said Ricky Gresh, senior director for student engagement.
Plans were originally made to close Faunce Arch given the ongoing renovation of Faunce House. "Originally, we wanted to close the arch on Oct. 19 so that we could access the basement of Faunce for things like demolition, excavation and concrete work," said Paul Dietel, director of project management.
The new plan will not cause any changes in the cost or schedule of the ongoing project. "We felt confident in the revised plan. It was simply a better plan and did not include any additional costs," Dietel said.
Recognizing that the closing of the arch would be a significant inconvenience for students and faculty, efforts were made to identify an alternative. "We kept talking to the contractor and eventually identified an alternative way to access the basement through a window on Waterman Street," Dietel said.
The change in plans will allow Facilities to keep the arch open until the end of the semester. From Dec. 23 to late January, the arch will be closed for more construction. "We still have to do significant structural work on the arch," Dietel said. This structural work would include removing the bricks lining the arch's walls to allow workers to add new glass walls to the arch's interior.
Students interviewed by The Herald expressed relief at the decision to keep the arch open.
"This is a great decision. It will allow there to be less congestion, and it won't confuse students as much while walking around campus," David Sanz '13 said.
Facilities does not anticipate additional closures of the arch after late January, Dietel said, but added that the possibility still exists. "Towards the very end (of construction) we may have to close it for a couple of days to put in concrete pavement," he said. "We don't anticipate closing it again for more than a day or two."
