Three months away from completion, RSU’s newest classroom building is taking shape

Photos and Story by Zack Stoycoff
Hillpost Editor

With Baird Hall’s interior “50 percent” complete, Physical Plant Director Leonard Szopinski said the building is on track to open this July.

Szopinski gave the Hillpost a sneak peak inside the $8 million building this month, and the staff dodged electrical wire, pipes, and freshly-painted walls to get the tour caught on camera.

The first floor is still largely unfinished, aside from the two-story glass grand entrance on the southeast corner. The second floor has painted walls and windows installed.

Szopinski said the interior will be the quality of the Centennial Center, but will look more like the inside of the Stratton Taylor Library, with cool-colored flooring and walls.

Baird Hall was built in 1953. The reconstruction adds 28,000 square feet to the original 24,000 square-foot building.

The building will have 23 rooms for student use, including 10 classrooms, three writing labs, three art studios, a graphics lab, four seminar rooms, and an honors lounge. Faculty offices for the fine arts, communications, English and humanities, criminal justice and History departments will be relocated to the building.

There will also be a two-story student lounge and recreation area, a place for students to congregate, study and socialize in the middle of the building.

A theater room in the western side of the building and an outdoor classroom along the building’s east exterior are also new additions to Baird Hall. Classes will begin in the building by fall 2010, with faculty moving into their offices this summer.

Video by Brandon Irby, Web Editor