Sage Hall is one of the renovated areas, with a new kitchen on the first floor and new lofts planned for the basement.
Photo by Emma Gilshannon
Over winter break, Lawrence undertook renovations in both the Conservatory of Music and Sage Hall.
Half of the practice rooms in the Conservatory now boast new sound-blocking panels. The plan is to replace the rest this summer.
Sage Hall saw the bulk of the construction this break. The most noticeable change to non-Sage residents was the replacement of stairs with a flat wheelchair-accessible entrance.
Sage and Kohler Residence Hall Director Spencer Morgan, explained that in addition to the front porch, the entire basement is in the process of being converted into a loft.
Morgan said that as a school “we’ve been moving more towards the loft style spaces… [The school] designated the basement of Sage to be a spot that would be ideal for a loft. They took the computer room, lounge room, TV room and kitchen down there, and they’re building a five-double bedroom loft down there.”
He added that if everything goes according to plan, the Sage loft would be open for occupancy next fall.
Because many of the social spaces in the basement were removed, the school also spent December renovating the communal areas on the first floor.
“Our new kitchen is much nicer than the one that used to exist,” Morgan said. “They replaced the carpet, painted the walls, upgraded the elevator, painted the inside of the lounge and now we’re working with a designer on campus to get new artwork for the spaces.”
While these changes are a good step forward, there will be some impact on the Sage community.
“What we do tend to see is that people living in lofts tend to form their own community and don’t really have a reason to do things with the larger hall community,” Morgan explained.
However, he said that this is just part of replacing traditional housing with loft living.
Other than that change, Morgan added, “I think most students won’t really have reason to know it’s there. It’s kind of tucked away down in the basement. Unless you use that back stairwell, you won’t really go down there.”
Lawrence student groups that are interested in applying for a loft space should have the opportunity to add Sage to their list of choices in the upcoming housing selection.