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Chase Comes Down to Make Way for Student Services Complex

On a campus now quite familiar with construction zones, a new one has been created where Chase Dining Hall had stood since the 1960s.

And Carolina is taking a big step toward its goal to quash any notions of a campus divided into north and south by filling Chase Hall’s footprint with two buildings that will house a wide array of services for students. Evoking the look of Old East and Old West in a part of the campus where nothing looks old, the two-building Student and Academic Services complex is expected to open in fall 2006.

The idea of moving essential services to the neighborhood that houses about 5,500 students is to end the sense of isolation of living on South Campus. The four original South Campus dorms each now has a four-floor companion dorm, and apartment-style dorms are under construction behind Hinton James and Craige.

The two buildings, combined totaling roughly 85,000 square feet, will flank the intersection of Manning Drive and Ridge Road on Chase Hall’s footprint. Many offices and services will fully relocate there: cashier, disabilities services, registrar, Honor Court, APPLES service program, the Carolina Center for Public Service, learning center (a hub for academic counseling and peer tutoring), housing and residential education departments, and offices for the dean of students.

While the convenience level will go up for South Campus students, the impact on the approximately 3,575 North Campus dwellers remains to be seen. Christopher Payne, associate vice chancellor for student affairs, said satellite offices were not planned for the above services.

The offices of academic advising, minority affairs, scholarships and student aid, the Writing Center (workshops and other services for students who need help with writing), Academic Services (a catchall academic support program) and Information Technology Services will open satellite offices, their main offices remaining on North Campus. A third, smaller building could be added to the complex for the ROTC program.

A 24-hour computer lab, combined with a technology help desk and training area for UNC’s InfoTech services, will occupy two floors of the building along Manning Drive.

Dianne Bachman, a campus architect who directed the project, said the buildings’ exterior details are meant to echo the style of North Campus. To some extent the buildings are modeled after Old East and Old West, she said. The red brick exterior and pitch of the roofs are meant to replicate the features of some of UNC’s oldest buildings.

The building along Ridge Road will curve to match the curvature of the road. With four floors, it will be higher and longer than the one on Manning Drive.

Although the buildings will have no classroom or lecture facilities, abundant conference and seminar spaces can be booked by anyone on campus and will be made available to students after business hours.

The project will create a courtyard between the new buildings and Morrison. The services complex will be connected to the dining hall, gym, grocery store and parking deck of the Rams Head Center by an elevated walkway that will even the elevation between the two.


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