Kinsey to receive makeover

The last of four original UCLA buildings from 1929 to be
renovated since the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Kinsey Hall is set
to undergo a seismic upgrade this summer.

The two-year project is expected to last from July 2004 to
summer 2006, and many students say the renovation is long
overdue.

Jessica Hardie, a third-year communication studies student, had
a class in Kinsey last quarter and said the building was in poor
condition and in need of remodeling.

“Chunks of the ceiling would fall off in one of my
classes,” Hardie said.

Samantha Markovich, a third-year communication studies student
who has a class in Kinsey this quarter, described the walls as
deteriorating and said, “It looks like the building that has
been neglected the most.”

The $35 million renovation will improve the structure of the
building for earthquake-related purposes, and a steel
superstructure will be built in the building’s interior, said
John Sandbrook, special assistant to the executive dean. The
building will be gutted and remodeled as well, he said.

When construction is completed, the shuffle in departments that
the building houses will support its new name ““ the
“Humanities Building,” Sandbrook said. The name Kinsey
will be relocated to a wing in Knudsen Hall.

While under construction, Kinsey will be vacated, said Kathy
Fitzgerald, project manager for Campus Capital Programs.

The departments the building currently houses, such as Near
Eastern languages and cultures, Slavic languages and communication
studies, will be relocated during the renovation.

Sandbrook said most of the Kinsey Hall occupants will be
relocated to Hershey Hall, a staging building that was formally
used for student housing until 1999. The move will take place
immediately after commencement weekend in late June.

Bethany Smith, a third-year communication studies student, is
not worried about the relocation of many of the classrooms and
offices she is used to visiting.

“Once a professor tells you where his office hours are, it
shouldn’t be more confusing than going anywhere else on
campus,” she said.

Smith, like many others who frequent Kinsey, said negative
effects associated with her department’s relocation will be
balanced by the more long-term benefits of a clean, renovated,
air-conditioned building.

Like the renovation to the other original buildings, Sandbrook
explained that all restructuring and remodeling of Kinsey will
occur on the inside. Kinsey Hall will retain its original exterior
architecture, he said.

Once the building is back in use in 2006, many of its current
inhabitants will be moved back inside. In addition, the English
department will relocate its faculty offices, as well as the
English Reading Room, to the new Humanities Building.

Some components of the communication studies department are
slated to be moved to Rolfe Hall.