Project gives college a new home

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UW-Whitewater Laurentide Hall

From the two walls of windows in her fourth-floor office, Mary Pinkerton’s view of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus can stun visitors.

“People walk into my office,” she said, “and they’re sort of amazed.”

That was not always the reaction she received.

Pinkerton, the dean of the College of Letters and Sciences, used to work out of an old residence hall.

“My former office was in a corner,” she said. “It was very dark.”

Pinkerton made the move as part of a $10.25 million renovation of UW-Whitewater’s Laurentide Hall. The project transformed a 1970s-era building, which Pinkerton called “fortress-like with no light” and “very depressing,” into a modern and open space.

“It’s a huge improvement,” she said. “It’s hard to put it into words. The arrangement is much more congenial and collaborative.”

Before the renovation, departments in the College of Letters and Sciences were spread across campus in seven buildings. Now, all departments are under one roof in Laurentide.

“We had always wanted a building for the social sciences and humanities,” Pinkerton said.

Laurentide Hall, formerly called Carlson Hall, used to house UW-Whitewater’s business program. But the business school moved in 2009.

School officials opted to renovate the building to save money and mitigate campus disruptions.

The renovation entailed a complete gutting of the 77,300-square-foot building and adding 5,550 square feet.

Crews updated electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and heating and cooling systems with more energy efficient options. The changes, which included an emphasis on natural lighting, could add up to a 30 percent reduction in energy consumption, according to J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc.

Laurentide Hall has no classrooms. Rather, the building houses offices, gathering spaces for faculty and students, conference rooms, a tutoring center, a seminar room for a graduate program and a cafe.

Letters and Sciences staff members have been overwhelmingly receptive to their new digs, Pinkerton said. While some employees have smaller work areas compared to their old offices, she said, everything is much nicer.

That particularly applies to giving everyone in Letters and Sciences a clear view of their colleagues, she said.

“It’s really put people in connection with others who never really knew each other before,” Pinkerton said. “There’s some collaborations going on that never really would have happened before.”

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