DUST FLEW THIS summer as the GSB underwent a whirlwind $4.3 million makeover–the most extensive in the school’s history. All four campus buildings were renovated to enhance the school’s most public and highly used areas: classrooms, Cox lounge, interview rooms and recruiting lounges, student service areas, and the lobbies of Rosenwald Hall and Edelstone Center.
The call for bids went out to architects in late December. The first stage–remodeling space in Walker Museum to move student services across the Midway from Edelstone –was completed by late spring. Administrative services in Walker were relocated to make room for the former Dean of Students Office, now reorganized into the Office of Student Services and Office of Student Life. The Office of Diversity Affairs (formerly Minority Affairs), LEAD, and International Programs also moved to Walker, consolidating student services closer to classrooms and study areas.
The day after graduation in June, construction began in the four main classrooms in Stuart and the entire first floor of Edelstone.
Those who rushed through the old Rosenwald lobby will now be tempted to linger. Color and texture, additional indirect lighting, plants, and artwork have transformed it into a warmer, more welcoming area. New wainscoting echoes the woodwork at the front door and the dean’s office door. Front and center in the lobby, visitors will find the new concierge service at a beautiful custom-made desk. Plans call for an electronic directory and information kiosk to be installed as well.
A quiet courtyard …
… was covered to create an atrium lounge, a calm oasis for recruiters.
The new lobby welcomes crowds with reception desks and seating areas.
Edelstone’s institutional-looking lobby was less than welcoming.
Amy Hamilton, the Business Students Association officer for continuous
improvement, and Dean Robert S. Hamada cut the ribbon to open
the renovated Stuart Hall amid student cheers and champagne in
September. Hamada thanked Beth Bader and Blair Archambeau, the
staff in charge of the renovation, for bringing the project in
on time and within budget. Noting that both were 1990 GSB graduates,
he added, “It was an amazing feat and a great testimony to what
a GSB degree can do.”Cox Lounge was popular but crowded, with worn, uncomfortable furnishings.
Cox has been enlarged and refurbished.
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