Carol and Park B. Smith Hall

Constructing a new jewel in the heart of the campus 

By Phyllis Hanlon

Many college campuses assume a sleepy, ghost town-like appearance during the summer months. The scene at Holy Cross, however, is quite different. The hum of machinery, the rumble of dump trucks, the vibration of jackhammers and the shouts of hard-hatted construction workers pervades the campus as the College launches a $19-million building project. Engineers, designers, construction crews and administrators will be hard at work on a new 55,000+ squarefoot structure that is destined to become the spiritual, social and intellectual center of Holy Cross.

On May 5, students, faculty, alumni, trustees, administrators and friends were on hand as ground was broken for the construction of Carol and Park B. Smith Hall. The new building, which will occupy the geographic center of the campus, abuts both O’Kane and Fenwick Halls. Smith Hall will link the lower campus, where academic life prevails, with the upper campus, the location of residence halls and focus of much of the College’s social life. The new space will house a library and chapel, faculty and administrative offices, as well as the religion and philosophy departments. The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, information technology, admissions, study abroad, deans’ offices, graduate studies and the Registrar’s Office will also be located there. The newly created Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture (see sidebar) will become the centerpiece of the new building. The Smiths’ generous gift of $10 million is providing significant financial support that will make this project a reality.

Park B. Smith ’54 is no stranger to the Holy Cross community. In 1997, he and his wife, Carol, contributed $1.5 million for a two-story addition to the Hart Recreational Center. The renovated facility was designed and constructed with the five dimensions of the wellness philosophy in mind: physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development. The Carol and Park B. Smith Wellness Center now serves as a fitness center and training facility for students, faculty and staff.

Smith, who holds a business administration degree from Holy Cross, and his wife “treasure the thought of a good education.” By extending such a generous gift, they hope to “encourage other alumni to do more than they ever have to date.” Smith says, “New buildings and a state-of-the-art facility must be added in order to remain competitive.” The couple hopes to make Holy Cross the most desirable liberal arts college in America through the improvements and additions their financial assistance will provide.

Smith and his wife are the owners of Park B. Smith Ltd., a leading importer of fashion products for the home. The company has earned acclaim for its outstanding efforts to preserve the environment. With corporate headquarters in New York City, the company employs more than 35,000 men and women in India in the manufacture of its all-natural cotton home fashions. Smith is also a wine connoisseur and part owner of Veritas, a gourmet restaurant in New York City that qualified as a 1999 James Beard finalist for best new restaurant in the nation.

The Smiths have been involved in some of the new building design decision-making. “Some features were deleted because of costs, but our donation has restored them,” says Smith. The couple did not place restrictions or conditions on any of the building features, save one. “We insisted on naming the fountain after Frank Vellaccio,” Smith says. Vellaccio served recently as acting president of the College and played a significant role in the early planning stages of this project. The original plans for the space call for two courtyards, one of which would contain a fountain.

John P. Hamill ’61, chief executive officer of Sovereign Bank New England and member of the Holy Cross Board of Trustees, applauds the Smiths for their generosity. “Theirs is the largest gift ever given to Holy Cross. It’s a milestone, a pace-setting gift,” he says.

He is anxious to see the final product and commends the architects and construction company for their ingenuity in both design and creation. “Graham Gund did his homework on this. It’s amazing that his design melds Smith Hall into the College’s cornerstone building,” Hamill says. He also notes the structural challenge that Perini Construction faces in the actual building process. In addition to connecting with O’Kane and Fenwick Halls, the facility will be built into the side of a hill. Construction workers must also perform some demolition without causing damage to the existing structures. “It will be a masterful job to construct,” he says.

The location of this signature building has been a key element throughout the planning process. Stephen C. Ainlay, vice president for academic affairs/dean of the College, reiterated the importance of locale with a story of a visit he and then-Acting President Vellaccio made to a Southern college. A facility, comparable in purpose to Smith Hall, was situated in a remote corner of that Southern campus near a pond. Although the building and location were beautiful, Ainlay and Vellaccio both noted its remoteness from the rest of the campus. Stating that “location is meant to say something,” Ainlay emphasizes that the Center’s presence at the heart of Holy Cross’ 174 acres is critical if the intended goal of providing space for social dialogue and interface is to be fulfilled.

The search process for an appropriate design and a capable company to spearhead this ambitious project began in September 1998. Ainlay reports that 20 architectural firms submitted written proposals for the project. A building committee consisting of students, chairs of the various departments affected by the construction and representatives from physical plant and the administration, reviewed the architectural design proposals. The committee narrowed the field to three firms who were then asked to submit models. When the building committee reached its conclusion, it presented both the written proposals and physical models, together with its recommendations, to the Board of Trustees for its feedback and comments.

According to Hamill, the executive committee of the Board enthusiastically accepted the building committee’s suggestions and selected Graham Gund Associates (GGA) to lead the project. Of the design, he says, “It truly reflects Holy Cross.” Hamill has known Gund both personally and professionally for several years and admires his work. Drawing on first-hand experience, he has been impressed with the work of this prestigious firm.

The choice of GGA, an award-winning professional practice founded in 1971, to design the new building is not surprising. Gabrielle Angevine, marketing director for GGA, reports that the firm was invited to submit a proposal. As Hamill has noted, GGA researched the history of Holy Cross and conducted visual assessments of the property during on-site visits prior to presenting its final proposal and model. “Every site and client has its own identity and background. We educate ourselves, so we can give back a product that has the same philosophy,” says Khalil Pirani, GGA architect who is managing the construction phase of the project.

Studying the history of Holy Cross helped the firm understand the College and its goals. This in-depth research enabled GGA to translate the “feel” of the school “into contemporary ideas, motifs and materials and make it fit with current times,” Pirani says. The firm’s own philosophy is to approach each project individually. The company aims to maintain the integrity of the client, while creating architecture that will blend with and enhance current structures. “The idea is not how to imitate history, but to make a building into which a new generation can fit,” Pirani explains.

During the pre-proposal stage, GGA sought feedback from Holy Cross. “We asked what the school was trying to develop with the new building,” Pirani says. “We tried to develop a menu so we kept putting items on the table for discussion.” Continuous communications regarding objectives helped the firm decide how it could best serve the needs of Holy Cross. “A major agenda item is to blend the old with the new,” says Pirani. GGA carefully examined the brick color as well as roofing shingles and other building materials, to ensure that Smith Hall would match the existing elements of the adjacent structures. “We try not to lose track of aesthetic values.” The building materials are common, according to Pirani. “Brick, roofing, stone are all the same. How we put it together has a story of its own.”

In addition to practicing collaboration with the client, GGA also maintains that cooperative efforts among its own employees work for the good of the project. In order to present a finished product that is cohesive and reflective of the school’s identity, several teams with different areas of expertise have been assembled, Pirani notes. “We have experts in interior and exterior design, tech issues, and detailing, to name a few,” he says. “You must have all the components.”

Both GGA and Holy Cross have seen this project develop and evolve since its conception. According to Ainlay, it is “an emerging project.” Some elements and features have been added over the past two years, while others have been deleted or modified. Ainlay notes that a previously unusable space will now become a plaza and potentially “a large part of campus life.” Pirani says the final decision on the fountain that will occupy this area has not yet been made, but that it would “give a nice feel to the space” and “be an ideal place for students to gather.”

In order to preserve some of its original landmarks, school administrators wanted to include the Jesuit cemetery, which is located next to the chapel, and the bakery, no longer in use, in the overall design of the new building. Maria Donovan, project manager for GGA, said that the firm was willing to work around these two historic structures. “The library and chapel in the new building will face the cemetery,” she says. The cemetery is the resting-place of many past presidents of the College, including Rev. Michael O’Kane, S.J., who served as the 11th president. O’Kane Hall, one of the buildings that will adjoin Smith Hall, is named after him.

GGA has received more than 90 regional and national awards and honors for various design projects throughout the country, as well as in Europe. The company’s expertise has been applied to residential, commercial, academic, nonprofit and hospitality projects. For example, the architectural firm designed the library addition for Mount Holyoke College, the Concord Academy Student, Health and Athletic Center, the Kenyon College Science, Mathematics and Music Buildings and the Radcliffe College Research Center. Among other projects, the company has created a high-rise in Orlando and drafted renovations to the Boston Ballet School and Studio and EuroDisney’s International Retail and Manufacturers Showcase in Paris.

The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture (see sidebar) will play a pivotal role in the fulfillment of the intended purpose of Smith Hall. The Center represents an actual, as well as symbolic, intersection of faith and learning. David O’Brien, director of the newly created Center, says the new entity would draw many currently scattered components together. A contemplative spirit will preside over the space as well as in the programs offered there, according to O’Brien. The physical space will be flexible, providing a place for quiet meditation as well as for intellectual stimulation through discussion. “Holy Cross wants to play a leadership role in the education world,” says O’Brien. “This new Center and the philosophy behind it will make that possible.”

The Center will serve to integrate all the departments and groups that currently co-exist on campus. Although the Center will not be focused primarily on curriculum, it will facilitate the collaboration of efforts among academic departments, groups and events. Current programs on campus, which take place in a variety of locations, will now have a central meeting point. Ainlay notes that a number of seminars, discussions and workshops with a spiritual dimension currently are held wherever space allows. Some of these events, he adds, are geared toward faiths other than Catholic. “Holy Cross has an obligation to provide spiritual outlets” for persons of Muslim, Protestant, Jewish and other faith traditions. “The dialogic element is very important,” he says.

The dean sees many of the College’s existing programs as setting the groundwork for an ever-expanding program of events that will take place under the Center’s umbrella. “We have enough resources, not just for Holy Cross, but for the whole Worcester community,” he says. The current Religion and Modernity Series has attracted a number of noted speakers and brought a variety of issues to the College, ranging from the exploration, discussion and interpretation of the Bible to a consideration of the moral development of children. “We have a series of proposals pending with various funding organizations that will help us gain national prominence,” Ainlay says. He feels that, in this way, Holy Cross can become a premier example of the merging of a liberal arts education with spirituality.

In addition to connecting the meetings and seminars that occur at far ends of campus, administrators hope to see collaboration among departments. Ainlay cites a naturally evolving relationship between women’s, African-American and gerontology studies and the academic internship and honors programs. “The Center can become a resource focused on the intersection of these topics,” he says.

Before deciding which departments would occupy Smith Hall, administrators performed a careful analysis of current space limitations, according to Ainlay. “We wanted to select departments that would have the greatest impact,” he says. For example, religious studies, which is now housed in Stein Hall with the economics and modern language departments, has been selected to move into the new building. The remaining two departments will then move into the space vacated by religious studies. The same approach applies to the philosophy department, currently located in O’Kane Hall. Once that department has relocated, the theatre, classics and visual arts departments will take over the vacated areas as their needs require.

Space constraint issues also apply to the department of information technology services. According to Ainlay, “I.T. is growing so quickly that it needs more space.” In its premier survey, Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine ranked Holy Cross among the top 50 most “wired” Catholic colleges in the country. The importance of this honor has not been lost on school administrators. “Computers play a big part in the school,” Ainlay says. “All residence halls have one port per pillow. Every student has access to hard drives and servers to store their data.”

Advanced services, such as Ebsco and Lexis®-Nexis®, bring a library of more than 3,000 journals to the students’ computers. “What can be accessed from your residence hall room is incredible,” says Ainlay. He reports that many classes have now moved to electronic syllabi and notes that students can obtain background information on a course before they ever set foot in the classroom.

The decision to undertake a new building project came after careful examination of current and future needs of the College and a study of the options for dealing with potential growth issues. “A need for space drove the development of the project,” says Ainlay. “There is hardly a building on campus that can be added to. Renovations are complete on all existing buildings.” He notes that departments are currently scattered across campus and situated according to space availability. In order to create a sense of cohesion on campus and meet the needs of students, new construction was the only answer.

The first stages of the project have presented challenges to faculty and staff as well as to the construction crew. Although eager to begin the project soon after the May groundbreaking, the construction team allowed faculty time to finish year-end grading before starting site preparation and the demolition process. Ainlay reports that five faculty members from each floor of the current buildings had to relocate their offices.

The Admissions Office had to move as well; now found in the Hogan Campus Center, it has taken up the space formerly occupied by the Chaplains’ Office, which, in turn, relocated to Campion. Noting that “it will take planning, patience and good will to get through this,” Ainlay believes that the timing of the project is perfect. “The heavy construction will take place this summer,” he says. “The loudest and most disruptive pieces will be done while the school is out of session.”

Ainlay sees a number of benefits for Holy Cross as a result of the College’s “informed decision” to construct a new building. “An improved student/faculty ratio will be possible,” he says. By making more space available throughout the campus, Holy Cross is opening the door for additional faculty. “We would like to see consistently 12:1, then 11:1 and finally 10:1,” says Ainlay. “Comparative schools have already reached that goal.” According to the dean, parents and high school seniors look closely at these ratios before applying to schools nowadays. “We want to offer enviable class size,” Ainlay explains.

With an increase in faculty numbers, the College can continue its trend toward developing closer working relationships between students and faculty. “Students choose Holy Cross for this reason,” Ainlay says. “There are many opportunities to work with faculty. The senior capstone project is one of them.”

In addition to providing enhanced educational benefits, Smith Hall will help Holy Cross establish a visual presence in Worcester and throughout the academic world. “A school’s architecture says something about its identity,” says Ainlay. With the construction of Smith Hall in a style replicating original structures on campus, Holy Cross is enhancing its aesthetic appeal while still maintaining respect for its heritage. Just as Smith Hall will provide a bridge between the two sections of campus, administrators are hoping that the new building will become a platform that “symbolizes that faith and intellect can occupy the same space.”

Phyllis Hanlon is a free-lance journalist from Charlton, Mass.