 "Photo: Stephen Fogg")
An open forum about the Memorial Student Center renovations was conducted Thursday at 3 p.m.
University officials and architects directing the conceptual and design phase of the renovations were present to answer discuss the renovations with students.
There were ten major points of discussion, some of which overlapped. The issues included the breezeway, bicycle storage, active dining, daylight and transparency, Joe Routt Boulevard, entrances, a new ballroom and enhancement of the southwest entrance, the flag room, the exterior arcades (cover from sun and rain) and the relationship to Rudder Theater and the military walk.
The issues were areas of congestion, especially the pedestrian and bicycle activity.
"Traffic is severely pinched at the crossroad," said Jeff Ziebarth, expert of Perkins and Will Architecture. "It's the most used entrance of the MSC, and it's hidden and underwhelming. It has the charm of a freeway bridge.
"Bicycle storage is necessary and must be integrated. We are trying to find a better way to separate paths of bicycles and pedestrians," he said.
Daylight and the transparency of the MSC were important to the architects.
"Between the 12th Man and the bookstore it's challenging to see daylight at all. Our idea is to basically lift the roof off the building, and dig holes to see daylight in the lower levels," Ziebarth said. "It would transform the entire place."
He said that the Hall of Honor and the flag room should make tradition and honor more reverential and more important.
One student was concerned with the importance of the inside of the building to the student body, and wanted to know how it would be addressed.
"There will be a large multi-purpose room divided into smaller rooms," Ziebarth said.
He said that the meeting rooms will be on the top of the pile of concerns for the architectural group.
"There is an advisory committee composed of two students, me and Mark Gold, and there is a Web site, msclivingtradition.tamu.edu," said Nick Petree, president of Memorial Student Center Complex and senior marketing major.
One student asked whether students will be notified throughout the process of the renovations.
"There will be milestones where the University will notify the students of sidewalk closures," Ziebarth said.
He said that they are still figuring things out with mass communication to students.
Other students were concerned about activities such as Chorus that take place in the basement of the MSC.
"There are multiple units of the MSC," said Kevin Jackson, associate vice president for student affairs. "We have to get this thing right. We'll talk to you about hard decisions."
While some were concerned about student organization facilities, others were concerned with the facility as a whole.
"We're not going to gut it," Ziebarth said. "There are certain areas that are fine, great. We won't touch the flag room, except to add more lighting. We won't do anything whacky. The goal [is that the student body] won't be able to tell what's new and what's old."
On the same subject, an interjection was made regarding the memorial part of the MSC.
"We understand the memorial aspect loud and clear, and that is truly unique at Texas A&M," said Vance Cheatham, American Institute of Architects associate principal of Perkins and Will Architecture.
Forums There will be two forums in Rudder Theatre 3:30 p.m. Nov. 6, 3:30 p.m. Dec. 2 Facebook group: "MSC Renovation and Expansion."
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