Over the last decade, Dartmouth’s planners have concluded that the College must expand northward onto the Golf Course relatively soon. See, for example, the 2001 Master Plan, page 11 (pdf).

The latest 2001 plan tentatively suggests a location for the new road that would be required to make this expansion possible. The road would run from the Medical School/Dewey Field, cut through Dewey Hill, and head to the northwest to provide building sites on the very edge of — or actually on top of — the 17th hole of the Golf Course.

Rough compilation of maps suggesting route of golf course road north of Medical School, with potential building sites indicated by solid red dots; Baker at lower left

The buildings on this road would lie beyond the 10-minute walking radius that Dartmouth takes for granted as defining its pedestrian campus. The road, which would traverse fairly steep slopes, seems likely to go nowhere and to lack a connection to either Rope Ferry or Lyme Road. Because this development would focus on a paved thoroughfare instead of an architectural space, as all of Dartmouth’s most successful expansions do, it seems likely to be suburban in character — more Centerra than Tuck Mall.

Such an expansion would only seem inevitable if one were to begin with the premise that the existing campus is “full.” That premise cannot be accurate. Dartmouth should do everything possible to prevent it from becoming accurate. There are still plenty of places to add to existing buildings or erect new ones near the center of campus. Many of these sites contained buildings in the past or have been the subjects of building proposals dating to the 1920s:

Unsolicited master plan showing, roughly, sites to be built upon in preference to Golf Course; the only demolition required is in the Choates

Dartmouth should replicate existing densities before it expands in ways that are suburban, needlessly university-like, or simply cause the College to spread too far from the Green.

Trumbull-Nelson has demolished the old Co-Op Food Store and gas station at the intersection of Lyme and Reservoir Roads. The Co-Op is building a replacement on the site (more info) designed by UK Architects of Hanover; the minutes of the Planning Board (pdf) indicate that the landscape architects are ORW Landscape Architects & Planners of Norwich.

The new store, which will not contain a gas station, will face the traffic circle at the intersection and will complement Dartmouth’s Rivercrest redevelopment across Lyme Road, forming a part of what is in essence a new town north of the golf course.

The Office of Residential Life plans to renovate the ca. 1812 James C. Brown House at 26 East Wheelock as a sorority, The Dartmouth reports. A second building slated to become a sorority house is described as 17 East Wheelock Street, which is the address of the Ledyard Apartments, a Jens Larson faculty housing block of 1920.

Meanwhile, the status page for the 4 Currier Street project notes that the three frame buildings on the site have been demolished: 4 Currier Place, 6 Sargent Place, and an outbuilding at 18 South Street.

Randall T. Mudge & Associates, Architects have created a firm website relatively recently. Familiar projects will include the Powerhouse Shopping Center in West Lebanon, David’s House at DHMC, and Dragon and the Rugby Clubhouse at Dartmouth.

OPDC has photos of Burnham and the Sports Pavilion that occupies the plaza between Burnham and Sculley-Fahey. The Pavilion’s south (field-side) facade, which was not emphasized in the drawings published prior to construction, makes the building look like an early-twentieth century central European lockmaster’s house.

The north end of Burnham Field has a short but impressive stretch of high brick wall to serve as a sign. The decision not to employ the stepped gable motif, which appears in the gym and Spaulding Pool and was repeated in the recent Boss Tennis Center, seems like a missed opportunity to inject some coherence into Dartmouth’s athletic facilities. Floren in particular might have made good use of it; but at least all of these buildings are built of brick, which does a great deal to unify them.

The Real Estate Office page has the best information on the new three-level commercial building about to go up across from the parking garage behind 7 Lebanon Street, sort of across from the Howe.

The Valley News reports that site prep begins today and will involve the demolition of two frame houses behind C&A’s Pizza.

Businessweek also has a short report that explains, as the others do, that the building’s first occupant will be the Studio Art Department once Clement Hall is demolished.

The one view of the building available on the Real Estate site unfortunately does not suggest that it will live up to the standard set by Childs Bertman Tseckares at 7 Lebanon.

The Moosilauke Advisory Committee recommends that Dartmouth demolish the historic Moosilauke Ravine Lodge (Richard Butterfield, 1938-39) near Warren, New Hampshire.

The article on the Committee’s recommendation in The Dartmouth does not suggest that the Committee has consulted with an accredited preservation architect, or an architect who is familiar with historic log buildings. The reasons given for demolishing Dartmouth’s most unusual and most sustainable building are not yet very convincing:

Reason   ::   Typical solution
logs cracking   ::   seal them
logs rotting   ::   replace them
current building codes   ::   upgrade/overlook - most old buildings fail
not large enough   ::   add on by extending the Great Hall

The idea that the building was “built to last 50 years” is especially insidious because every building has such a number. No one in 1938 planned for Moosilauke to be demolished in 1988 any more those who built Moore or Berry in 1998 planned to have it torn down in 2048. A “lifetime” number exists for every building and simply describes the period after which significant elements will need replacement. Swapping out logs or replacing a roof is nothing a competent construction crew cannot handle.

Dartmouth should not let the cost of proper maintenance justify destruction, even if an historic log building might cost a bit more to maintain than the cheap imitation that would replace it. The Lodge was built by volunteers and low-paid local loggers, during the Depression, which means that Dartmouth has been enjoying the savings of a low initial purchase price for 70 years. A little extra expense today would be well justified.

Destroying the Ravine Lodge would also waste all of the energy the building embodies, and by rights it should prevent any replacement from claiming to be “green.” The Lodge was constructed using sustainable local timber hauled by horses. All of its systems are indefinitely replaceable and will not tie up valuable metals or harmful chemicals in landfills when they are thrown away after failing suddenly at the end of their useful lives, as the parts of a new building will do.

The college that is gearing up to celebrate the centennial of its Outing Club, that is sincerely dedicated to meeting voluntary “green” regulations, and that produces graduates such as William McDonough should be embarrassed to consider destroying the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. Just as with any other National-Register eligible building, if parts of it are broken, they need to be fixed. Before any demolition takes place, I’d hope that Dartmouth justify such a decision by reporting no that federal and state historic preservation laws will be implicated; that a certified preservation architect with log building experience has written off the building; and that the replacement will not seek any kind of LEED certification.

The Planning arm of the OPDC has expanded its Web content lately. Now there are historic maps and aerial photos available. The College Planner, Joanna Whitcomb, even has a blog.

Most interesting is the very extensive file of planning documents of the last decade. There are some remarkable items here:

Machado & Silvetti’s 2006 presentation on the Visual Arts Center to the Board of Trustees (pdf);

Kieran Timberlake’s 2006 Basis of Design for the Thayer Dining Hall Replacement (pdf) (good news: at least at the time of that presentation, the demolition of South Fairbanks was not part of the proposal; instead the architects presented a clever plan to close the south end of Mass Row and loop vehicles from Wheelock Street behind the church and back to the street);

Saucier & Flynn’s 2007 Landscape Master Plan (pdfs) (interesting proposal to establish a public square or plaza between Leverone and Thompson)

Centerbrook’s SLI study (pdf) (including intersting things reported but not shown on line in the late 1990s, such as an idea for a building to join Collis, Robinson, and Thayer; and the big building idea that led to Floren);

Photos of a model of the ‘53 Commons pdf) emphasizing the glassy tower;

Dartmouth’s 2002 Master Plan (pdf (which mentions the idea of building a regional conference center, probably not in town; the Trustees’ long-held goal of demolishing the entire River Cluster; the one-time consideration of building an off-site commissary to serve all dining halls; the idea of putting a parking garage on the lot next to Cummings; and, strangest of all, the rejection of a proposal to move Thayer School to Lyme Road!).

The diamond at Red Rolfe is being completely rebuilt, and, with a grandstand, dugouts, and a press box, will become part of Biondi Park. Press Release; Project page. Clark Companies and Gale Associates are the field consultants, and Lavallee Brensinger, designer of the gym renovation, is designing the grandstand. The project page has a perspective rendering available.

[Update 07.12.2008: The plans page also includes a nice site plan (pdf), and Big Green Alert Blog has a post with an aerial perspective rendering and a view of the entrance gate.]

In general construction news, Guy C. Denechaud writes that “Projects Are Plentiful at Dartmouth College,” Valley Business Journal (April 7, 2008).

The Valley News reports that the fieldhouse at Burnham, called the Sports Pavilion, is open as the clubhouse for the soccer and lacrosse teams. The school will add an athletic trainers’ facility to the north side of the building in the future.

Alpha Theta is also working on repairs to comply with the Fuller Audit.

The Dartmouth reports that Bartlett Hall is being rehabilitated.

New Hampshire Hall’s exterior was photographed prior to the expansions that is under way now.

Engineering Ventures of Burlington is working on a Satellite Parking Facility for about 400 cars on the suburban Route 10A east of Hanover.

An article about the College Arborist mentions transforming the East Wheelock Cluster’s “quad” from mere grass into a somewhat unusual garden. The article also notes that the school trims the linden tree in front of the Hop with the Modernism of the building in mind, which is interesting.

Dartmouth’s design office updated its complete list of projects in December (pdf). Renovations of New Hampshire Hall and the Inn are in the works, along with the creation or upgrading of a multipurpose sports field.

Dartmouth has also bought and is renovating the neighboring houses at 25 and 27 South Park Street and plans to rent each one to a sorority. Alpha Xi Delta will move from Webster Avenue, where it has rented the Beta Theta Pi House, and Alpha Phi will occupy a house for the first time, The Dartmouth reports. Both have been identified as designs of Jens Larson.

This is the front (west) facade of number 25.

This is number 27. To the right at number 29 is Fire & Skoal, also a Larson design.

The houses screen Thompson Arena.

What’s described as the biggest DOC construction project since Moosilauke concluded recently: the Harris Centennial Cabin. It occupies the site of the first DOC cabin on Moose Mountain — with three others built there in between. The Dartmouth has a history. The school has a press release.

The Hanover Country Club no longer uses its ski jump logo, and it seems to have adopted the pine from Dartmouth’s Bicentennial flag, as the Club’s home page indicates.

The jump was demolished in 1993, and there is a plaque on its site.

As the irregular grassy plot in front of the River Cluster becomes better defined and and is transformed into a front door to the Tuck School (through the school’s Whittemore Hall), the space needs a name.

Landscape architects Saucier & Flynn have mentioned “Whittemore Green” in town planning meetings (pdf).

The part of Hanover’s downtown that lies below South Street is changing rapidly.

A commercial building called The Chimneys (Randall T. Mudge & Associates, 2006-07) is being built at 2 Maple Street, behind the service station on South Main Street. Guy C. Denechaud wrote in an article in Valley Business Journal (April 6, 2007) that the main tenant of the three-level building will be the Ledyard National Bank’s
investment offices. The building should open in December. (Thanks, Tim, for the information.)

The latest of the many societies to graft an addition onto its house to comply with various life-safety and accessibility codes is Sigma Nu, which has posted photographs of the construction of an external brick stair tower behind the north end of its Larson building. The plans and drawings by Haynes & Garthwaite (pdf) are posted.