Second East Hall community input session set

KALAMAZOO—Western Michigan University has set Tuesday, Jan. 7, as the day to hold the next community input session to gather feedback on the progress of plans to transform East Hall into an alumni center.

The input session has been canceled due to the weather-related University closure, and will be rescheduled.

The session will take place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Little Theatre, which is located at the intersection of Oakland Drive and Oliver Lane, across the street from East Hall. Parking is available in a lot adjacent to the Little Theatre as well as across Oakland Drive and adjacent to Walwood Hall in WMU Parking Lot No. 1.

The Jan. 7 session is the second in a series of three community input sessions that were planned to provide members of the campus and extended communities the opportunity to be part of the alumni center design process. The first session, held Oct. 1, outlined some of the renovation requirements and operational needs of such a center as well as offered those attending a look at a number of interior and exterior decisions that would need to be made as part of the design work. Those attending also had the opportunity to suggest amenities they would like to see as part of an alumni center.

The Jan. 7 session is a mid-design session that will showcase the progress made toward a final design and building configuration. Detailed plans should be ready for presentation in late February or early March, and one final community session will be scheduled to showcase those plans at that time. Actual renovation of East Hall is expected to begin in spring 2014.

The session will feature design professionals from TowerPinkster, a Kalamazoo architectural and engineering firm selected earlier this year to guide the renovation, and from Ann Arbor's Hopkins Burns Design Studio, a firm that specializes in historic preservation.