Education, community at the heart of summer building projects

08-17-2010

By Geoff Ashmun

McCormick has spent the summer hard at work on several upgrades to its classroom and storage spaces

In anticipation of a new academic year beginning in September, McCormick Theological Seminary has been working on on several enhancements to its classroom and storage spaces now fully housed within the seminary’s 5460 S. University Ave. administrative building on its South Side Chicago campus.

The seminary’s property management team has successfully completed the design, permitting, and construction of two new multi-purpose rooms, as well as a new garage storage area on budget and on time.

“We have transformed under-utilized and unproductive storage space and re-purposed excess office space into attractive and functional multi-purpose classrooms for our faculty and students,” said David Crawford, Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer. “For anyone who has ever been involved in a construction project of any size, the concepts of ‘on-time’ and ‘on-budget’ are more often than not little more than wishful thinking. Our team, led by Joe Swojenski and Natasha Gaines, have achieved those goals and produced wonderful new places to meet and to learn.”

The new first floor room is approximately 1,000 square feet with robust audio-visual capabilities, while the new third floor space is approximately 500 square feet with a mounted projection screen, multiple white boards, and a portable projector to allow users maximum flexibility. Controls for all media equipment are extremely user-friendly and accessible, and both rooms have a generous amount of natural light as well as HVAC upgrades to meet or exceed expected system demands.

“We have transformed under-utilized and unproductive storage space and re-purposed excess office space into attractive and functional multi-purpose classrooms for our faculty and students”

In addition to the new multi-purpose rooms, McCormick has also built out nearly 600 square feet of new storage space in its underground garage. M+W Group (formerly M+W Zander, the original building architect) served as project architect, while J.W. McCarthy served as general contractor.

“All the additional activity will, no doubt, present some challenges,” Crawford said, “but we also know that these new spaces will enhance the sense of McCormick community and expand opportunities for interaction among students, faculty, and staff.  And that’s a good thing.”

More photos of the buildout in progress are available on our flickr stream.