EDINBORO — For Meadville residents Dan Higham and Dennis Frampton, Friday’s wallbreaking ceremony in Cooper Hall on the campus of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania triggered a walk down memory lane.
Instead of relying on the uncertainty of nature in January in the heart of northwestern Pennsylva-nia’s legendary snow belt, Edin-boro officials moved the “groundbreaking” ceremony indoors, kicking off a $29 million renovation and expansion of Edinboro’s main science building.
Instead of the traditional golden shovels, participants were greeted with golden sledge hammers, which they applied with scientific precision to bulls-eyes — tartan plaid, of course — carefully applied to a section of drywall scheduled for demolition as part of the project.
All but one of the ceremonial sledgehammers were provided by project architect Astorino Architects of Pittsburgh; university Presi-dent Jeremy Brown brought his own. “I do know how to use it — and you have been warned,” he cautioned the standing-room-only crowd of students, faculty, staff and dignitaries who filled the planetarium lobby.
Named in honor of Joseph A. Cooper, who served as the third principal of Northwest-ern State Normal School at Edinboro between 1863 and 1892, the 90,000-square-foot Cooper Hall was built in 1964-65 at a cost of $692,000. More than 20 years has passed since the building’s last interior renovation.
The entire building is being totally renovated and an additional 30,000 square feet will be added. “We know that Cooper Hall will soon become the region’s finest academic science building and one of the most sophisticated and technologically advanced in the state,” Brown said, noting that the building itself will demonstrate Edinboro’s extreme commitment to sustainability.
“This to me is amazing, because I remember the year it was built,” said Higham, who now serves on Edinboro’s council of trustees. “I had classes in it the first year,” he added, noting that while he found it slightly depressing to realize that more than 40 years have passed since the day, he’s delighted that this renovation will bring the university into the 21st century.
Frampton recalled having a few classes in Cooper Hall — “back in the late 1980s, I think,” he said. “I had a lot of wonderful experiences, but the building was tired back then,” he said. “I’m very excited to see a new building here.”
Construction, which will include a geothermal heating and cooling system as well as a new greenhouse, is expected to take about two years. Plans call for the revamped and expanded building — which will house departmental offices, lecture halls, classrooms and instructional laboratories as well as the university’s planetarium, observatory and the new greenhouse — to be fully occupied by January 2012.
The university is currently in the midst of a five-year construction plan. Approximately $200 million is being spent on physical campus improvements designed to benefit academics, sports and recreation, and student housing.
“With all the new buildings on campus — and the housing — I think Cooper Hall will be the icing on the cake,” Frampton said.
Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.
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