New plans include cafeteria space and a smaller Grawood
The latest round of Dalhousie Student Union Building plans have been submitted and are under review.
The goal of the renovations is “to update the building, as it’s a little tired. We’re going to open up the building to more daylight,” says Keith Tufts, the architect in charge of the designs.
While Tufts is mapping out the blueprints, student input has been used along every step of the designs.
“What’s critical is making the building a place that more students can use for the purposes they need on campus, whether it be social or academic or eventbased,” says Tufts.
Tufts says the construction team will be doing “most of the work on the existing building, like the cafeteria and the Grawood, in the summers when the students aren’t there. We still want to maintain accessibility for students. We’ll focus on additions during the school year, like the Atrium, to minimize inconvenience. It’s all about efficiency.”
The new plans also include significant changes to the student bar, the Grawood.
“We will be radically reducing the size of the Grawood. It isn’t utilized in the same way that it was when it was built. Students aren’t looking for a place to dance or party as much as they are for a relaxed place to socialize.”
Another major alteration to the present SUB will be the Society Hub, which will be a centralized location for all DSU societies to hold office hours, host meetings and store materials.
There are some who are concerned that this Society Hub will not meet the needs of all existing societies. The Nova Scotia Public Interest Resource Group (NSPIRG), who have operated in their current space for over a decade, are losing their location to the renovations.
Brian Crouse, Resource Admin Coordinator for NSPIRG, says, “We are a resource centre. Within NSPIRG, there’s a wide range of people working on different issues. Having this space is pretty essential. A lot of the smaller spaces that have been proposed would limit us using that space as a hub, a resource centre and a meeting place.”
Students looking to provide input on the current draft of renovation designs have the opportunity to attend an open consultation on October 28.
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