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The Rice Thresher
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by Esther Sung thresher staff
Although the construction completion date is months away, the students were able to see the new college and servery taking shape. "It's wonderful," Wiess President Josh Katz said after the tour. "The building has the possibility for a lot of interesting new uses that classes in the future will have to come up with." Common spaces include the roof-top sun deck, accessible both by elevator and by a large staircase leading from the ground level of the intramural playing fields. A wall of windows will allow the commons to look out on a large courtyard in the middle of the college - the new Acabowl. The Acabowl is the outdoor area where parties are traditionally held. "Standing in what will be the new Acabowl, you really did get a sense that the architects have done a great job of preserving the features of Wiess that we love so much," Wiess President-elect Amy Schindler, a junior, said. "For so long now, we've been looking at architectural sketches and diagrams of what the commons and servery will look like, but it meant so much to be able to stand there and see it with our own eyes," she said. The new Wiess also has space allocated for a weight room, a piano and music room, and several classrooms and private dining areas. Wiess has appointed a Furnishings Committee to recommend the style and type of equipment and furniture the new college should have. "We want yellow chairs in our commons, of course," Katz, a senior, said. "The old Wiess has square tables right now, and we want square tables in the new Wiess so we can keep doing tabletop theater." The servery will be completed later this spring or summer in order to serve Hanszenites during the 2001-'02 school year. Hanszen College students and the Hanszen college coordinator will "borrow" the servery facility and commons area of the new Wiess for a year while the current Hanszen Commons and kitchen are torn down and rebuilt to be attached to the common servery. Wiess students will move into the new building in fall 2002. "It's nice - I guess it'll do for a year," joked Hanszen junior and President-elect Erik Vanderlip after viewing the servery and new commons. "It's exciting, but it'll be a hard transitional year for Hanszen," he continued. "Especially for the [rising] seniors, eating in a new commons after we've been eating in the same commons for three years." "I really think it'll be beautiful for both colleges," Hanszen Master Eugenia Weissenberger said. "I'm so excited - I'm not from Wiess and I'm still excited. The big windows [in the commons] will make it so pretty and bright. It's fantastic." Although much construction remains to be completed, many students were pleased with the progress already made. "I could really feel the excitement among the Wiessmen who went on the tour as we talked about possibilities for the future of Wiess," Schindler said. "They promised my class when we were freshmen that we'd be moving into this building in our junior or senior year," Katz said. "[The construction] should have been done a long time ago, but I'm glad it's happening now. I wish I were going to be here when it's done."
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