New Classrooms, Expanded Labs: A Look at What’s New on the Boston Campus This Fall

First stop: A Classroom with a Big-Screen Future

White 101, which Scanlon points out was once a loading dock in the 1960s, has been transformed from a traditional lecture hall into a flexible classroom and engagement area.

The old stadium-style seating is gone. So is the raked floor. New tables and chairs fill the room, with seating for 102 students during classes.

Along with the new big screen, White 101 has fresh paint, carpeting, and lighting, plus expanded entrances with oversized doors connecting it to the Atrium.

But the biggest change is how the room can be used. Faculty asked for more flexibility, particularly the ability to break students into small groups. With the old, fixed seating, that wasn’t possible.

“We reduced the capacity of the room, but made it multi-purpose,” Scanlon says. “You can move the tables and chairs around. With the raked seating, you couldn’t because everything was bolted down.”

Stairwells on either side of White 101 were also removed to improve the flow between buildings.

The construction meant two nearby classrooms were offline for the summer. Both received new carpeting and audiovisual upgrades.

The hallways got a refresh, too.

“We carried the red to brighten it up a bit,” Scanlon says.

More Room to Learn

From White 101, we move on to some of the spaces that will support growing programs.

The Diagnostic Medical Sonography suite is expanding from 13 to 24 stations, and an additional lab room with eight stations. On this day, the machines are assembled and lined up in a precise row on another floor, waiting to be moved into their new location.

“It nearly doubles the capacity of the lab,” Scanlon says.

The expansion extends into the former Campus Life offices where a wall was added to combine the two areas into one larger suite.

The radiography lab is growing, too, with two new machines and an expansion into adjacent space. The lab has four machines, up from two.

In Matricaria, a lab has been renovated to support Anatomy & Physiology courses, with new audiovisual equipment and improvements to egress.

Elsewhere in the White Building, rooms are being repurposed to accommodate changing needs. One formerly used by Student Affairs is being converted into a classroom that seats more than 60 students. Across the hall, the other will become an acupuncture training suite where students can practice with massage tables and needles.

By this point, we’ve covered classrooms, labs, and offices—even the President’s Library, which received new tables and chairs. Yet all these changes are just a fraction of the work Scanlon has overseen since the spring semester ended in May.

“This is pretty much how I spent my summer,” he says.

Making Room for What’s Next

The reshuffling continues at One Palace Road, where Student Affairs, Counseling, Residence Life, and International Studies will occupy the third floor, while the Office of Student Success and Achievement and Dean of Students will be on the second floor.

The move opens up new possibilities elsewhere on campus.

In Fennell, Scanlon walks through the former Dean of Students area, which is being refurbished into roughly 20,000 square feet of academic space.

“This whole area is fair game for designing something new,” he says.

Upstairs, the work is more familiar: preparing the residence halls for students.

Fennell, the University’s tallest building, has five floors of residence halls and was built in 1987. This summer, Wi-Fi access points were upgraded, and the dorm floors received new carpeting and paint.

On the fourth floor, the women’s shower area has been renovated with new tile floors and stalls. The space will serve as a model for future renovations on the upper floors, Scanlon says.

Behind the Walls ... and Above Them

The tour takes us beyond the classrooms and offices students and faculty typically see.

We head to the roof to look at the new 285-kilowatt generator, which is nearing activation.

Scanlon says the generator is designed to provide full power to the campus, reducing the University’s reliance on local utilities. Standing next to the big generator, which looks a little like a Smurf-blue trash compactor, Scanlon motions for me to move closer.

“Come around to this side for a better look.”

“This is one of those infrastructure improvements happening behind the scenes that no one notices,” he says, “but it has a big impact.”

Next, we head toward the west end of the building and the Channing Labs, riding in one of three new elevators. Brigham and Women’s Hospital has been leasing the research labs from MCPHS, but in October, it will return to the University.

And that is where Scanlon’s vision for the next phase of the campus comes into view.

We stop at the wall separating the existing MCPHS space in Fennell from the future Channing Labs area. The plan is to connect the two sides, adding thousands of square feet to the University’s academic and research footprint.

Scanlon looks through the wall and describes what will happen next: leveling floors, adding windows, and installing lighting.

“Visualize it,” he says.

Then, looking at the wall, he adds: “I can’t wait to break through this wall.”

Ready … Almost

By the end of the tour, we’ve zigged and zagged through campus, gone up and down, walked through classrooms and labs, visited residence halls, stood on the roof, and ventured into the building’s underbelly, where, on this hot August afternoon, it feels like 120 degrees.

It’s a campus that has spent the past three months being taken apart and put back together.

“In the summer we get to go through and break things and then rebuild,” Scanlon says.

On Aug. 18, there is still plenty of evidence of the work. Ladders and other construction equipment remain visible. Desks and chairs wait to be arranged. Drills buzz and shop vacs hum, punctuating the quiet.

But students return soon. Classes begin Sept. 2.

“It will be all done by the start of school,” Scanlon says, before adding with a laugh, “I didn’t say the paint would be dry, but it’ll be ready.”