Photo by: Michael Furman

The redesign of the south side of campus is underway with the demolition of the east wing of Boettcher Hall.

“In the next few weeks it will be completely gone,” said Mark Rodgers, university architect.

Preliminary plans call for campus green stretching from Boettcher to the corner of Iliff Avenue and York Street, across from the Newman Center, down the street from the potential site of the school of engineering, whose funds are still being raised.

According to Rodgers, because Boettcher East, which was built in the 1950s, was in need of extensive repairs, it made most sense to demolish it.

A community design forum took place on campus last Friday, Rodgers said, to discuss how best to use the space, however the ultimate landscape of the area is still being decided.

Over the summer, renovations were also done to Boettcher Auditorium, installing a sprinkler system and bathrooms on the main level, and transforming the space from one lecture hall that originally sat more than 300 students.

“Most classes have evolved away from that,” Rodgers said. “We divided that [auditorium] into three pieces – basically two classrooms for a range of 50 and another for 100.”

The next project on campus will be construction on Penrose Library, which is scheduled to begin next summer.

 

Courtesy of DU Media