OSWEGO — Scales Hall at SUNY Oswego will undergo a $13.1 million renovation, which is scheduled to begin Dec. 19. General contractor PAC Associates of Oswego Inc. will handle the work on the project, which should be complete by July 1, ahead of the next academic year. Besides the sustainable elements involved, the completed renovation […]
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OSWEGO — Scales Hall at SUNY Oswego will undergo a $13.1 million renovation, which is scheduled to begin Dec. 19.
General contractor PAC Associates of Oswego Inc. will handle the work on the project, which should be complete by July 1, ahead of the next academic year.
Besides the sustainable elements involved, the completed renovation will increase Scales’ capacity to house students from about 200 to approximately 210, SUNY Oswego said in a news release issued Nov. 21.
The work schedule is “aggressive” but a demand for on-campus housing is driving the need, says Mitch Fields, associate VP for facilities at SUNY Oswego.
“If we didn’t have these [beds available], we’d have to turn away 200-plus students as we have nowhere to house them,” says Fields, who spoke with CNYBJ on Dec. 5.
The renovation work will focus on new doors, windows, and roof. The contractor will renovate all the rooms.
“All the restrooms will be reconstructed. All the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems will be reconstructed,” says Fields.
The building will have a new main entrance “that will allow us to add a couple more beds,” he adds. The work will also target the student lounge, game rooms, and kitchen area.
The work will also include “substantial” exterior construction done for Americans with Disabilities Act-mandated accessibility at the main entrances.
The effort will also target roof drainage and erosion controls, according to Fields.
Similar to “twin”
The project contractor, PAC Associates, also renovated the school’s Waterbury Hall in 2014 and 2015.
Fields described Waterbury as Scales’ “twin.”
The upgraded Scales Hall will feature a contemporary design similar to that of Waterbury, SUNY Oswego said.
Syracuse–based King + King Architects, the same architectural firm that designed Waterbury, also designed Scales’ “modernization,” the school added.
Scales will have pod-style bathrooms providing privacy for toilets and showers, as well as new furniture, a kitchen on every floor, new lounges on the second and third floors and a new computer lab, Myles Clendenin, director of Scales Hall, said in the release.
The renovation will include many updates to comply with the SUNY policy that requires all new buildings and renovations to comply with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification.
As SUNY Oswego noted in its release, the school pursues a “higher goal” for all campus buildings: LEED Gold certification.
“That’s a pretty consistent approach for us and we do that on all our buildings,” adds Fields.
A passive-cooling system will reduce costs by pulling in the cool air over Lake Ontario to circulate throughout Scales Hall. The air over the lake is typically 10 degrees cooler than the air on land, according to Fields.
Crews will use recycled materials throughout the project, such as repurposed wood for the exterior, he says. They’ll also put energy-efficient mechanical systems in place in the main boiler room.
Once the renovation work is complete, the LEED-certification verification process can last between 18 months and two years.
“You actually have to prove that the building functions as it was intended. You’re just not getting an award for good intentions. You have to have follow through,” says Fields.
Scales Hall, which opened in 1961, is the last of four SUNY Oswego residence halls built on the campus’s lakeside area.
With the completion of Scales, all four lakeside residence halls will have been renovated in the last 14 years. Johnson Hall was renovated in 2003 and Riggs Hall done in 2007.
Moving students
The students who currently live in Scales will have to move out of the building in December, though about 70 are leaving campus.
Clendenin said the university’s Residence Life and Housing department tried to place students who would not be returning to campus for the spring semester into
Scales. The 130 students who will remain on campus were given a first-preference survey to choose a new hall in which to live.
Once Residence Life and Housing determines how many rooms will be vacant for the spring semester, it will begin placing the Scales residents.
SUNY Oswego has hired a moving company to help students move their belongings to their new rooms over winter break, Clendenin said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com