By Tom Lawrence, vice president, Carter
ATLANTA (Nov. 2, 2011) - In February, Carter was selected as program manager for the renovations to Laura Spelman Hall located on the historic oval of Spelman College’s campus. Thanks to my colleagues also working on the project, Gary Pateau, Mitsu Parker and Chris Barnett, the renovations are progressing on schedule, and we wanted to give a mid-project update.
We received our building permit in early May, and construction commenced in June after students moved out. The renovation program called for student residential, academic, and support space to occupy the building’s three levels. The ground floor will have lounge and meeting rooms, a psychology lab, technology lab and a conference room with state-of-the-art audio/visual and teleconference systems. The upper two floors will contain 40 student beds in double-occupancy rooms, group bathrooms and study spaces.
Before the renovations, a facility assessment study identified numerous deficiencies with the historic structure including lack of central heating and air conditioning, waterproofing and life safety issues. Spelman College decided to vacate the building for one academic year and perform a thorough renovation.
Following selective demolition to the original building structure, several renovations will be made. They include a new slate roof, repointing of exterior masonry, restoration of historic limestone accents and insertion of an elevator and new egress stairs. Upon completion, the building will have new mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and voice/data systems. We connected the building to campus-chilled water and steam loops and each student room will have individual temperature control. To provide students with additional social and study space, an outdoor terrace was constructed in the rear yard of Laura Spelman Hall.
The project is seeking LEED silver certification and we are targeting final completion early next summer.
The historic building was designed by Hentz, Reid & Adler and completed in 1918. The original home of the college’s Home Economics program, it was converted to the school of nursing in 1930. Most recently the building has been used for a child development center on the ground floor and student housing.
