by Stephanie Kitts
Daily Lobo
After being housed in three off-campus buildings for more than 30 years, the School of Architecture and Planning now has one home.
"The new building will allow us to consolidate our presence in a single facility," said Roger Schluntz, dean of School of Architecture and Planning. "It provides a bit of expansion, but primarily replacement space."
Jaynes Corporation finished construction of George Pearl Hall on Tuesday.
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The building, near the Bookstore, is scheduled to hold classes in the spring.
"We're at the point when we're realizing the dream," said Jan Bandrofchak, development officer for the school. "It's a long-held dream of our faculty, students and alumni."
The Stanford Road entrance to campus opened today after being closed for about two years for the construction.
Parking and Transportation Services doesn't expect any problems with the entrance, said Clovis Acosta, director of the department.
"I think it will improve access to the University," he said. "We anticipate that traffic will go back to the way it was."
Bandrofchak said the architecture building would give students more opportunities.
"The building opens so many new doors for our students," she said. "It's like a new chapter is opening for our school."
Schluntz said faculty would begin moving into the building in November.
"We'll start moving in as soon as furniture, offices and computing are installed," he said.
The building will also be home to the Design and Fine Art Library and the exhibition hall, which will display professional and student work.
The building looks unfinished, but that is so students can connect what they learn in the classroom with a real-life example, Schluntz said.
"Part of the expectation was that students could learn from the building by understanding how everything works," he said. "It's kind of like a tough, warehouse-like type of finish."
