ISU Bengal

Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Ryan Hunter A view of the atrium commons area from the third floor of the housing section.

Media Credit: Ryan Hunter A current view of what once was Cadet Field. It is planned to become a softball field by summer of 2008.

Media Credit: Ryan Hunter Inside one of the unfinished third floor areas of the new Rendezvous complex.

On Aug. 22 the $43.5 million Rendezvous Complex finally opened its doors to the ISU community. This highly anticipated opening was accompanied by numerous glitches, problems and questions regarding partially complete and incomplete aspects of the facility.
However, according to an official statement from ISU Facilities Services in conjunction with Student Affairs, as well as statements by administration officials, many of the problems that accompanied the opening of the Rendezvous Complex have been fixed. Those issues that have not yet been addressed will be taken care of by the end of the academic year, and will reportedly not cost any more than originally intended.
"No new money has been put in other than what the contractors agreed," said Lee Krehbiel, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs. "We got a fixed budget and had to stick to it."
According to Krehbiel, many of the reported glitches - which included problems with water temperature, automatic door malfunctions, and lack of sufficient air conditioning - have already been remedied.
Most of the issues were due to computer malfunctions, such as in the cases of the air conditioning and automatic doors. Other problems were due to structural issues, as was the case with crossed hot and cold water lines. None of the glitches reported thus far, however, will require additional funds since in each case the equipment was still under manufacturer warranty.
Both Krehbiel and Darrell Buffaloe, Assistant Vice President for Facilities Services, stated that the problems that have arisen thus far with the new Rendezvous Complex are consistent in the type and severity of problems they've encountered in opening other buildings of comparable size.
Krehbiel also pointed out that system tests prior to the opening of a building the size of the Rendezvous sometimes won't identify certain problems, which can later arise when full demand - in this case, over 250 students on-site - is placed on the systems.
In the official statement, Buffaloe likened many of the problems in the Rendezvous to problems he faced when helping open the L.E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center (PAC).
The continuous usage of the Rendezvous Complex also contributed to some of the delay in addressing the issues quickly, according to Krehbiel.
"The difference is that the PAC has limited numbers of people in it during performances only," Krehbiel said. "The Rendezvous is harder to get into with people constantly in it."
Questions have also been raised concerning other aspects of the Rendezvous, such as landscaping, completion of several of the third floor classroom areas, and the planetarium.
According to a statement on the ISU website concerning the Rendezvous Complex, landscaping around the building could take up to 12 months to complete. This includes the reseeding of Cadet field, located between the Rendezvous Complex and Reed Gym, which is scheduled to reopen as a softball field in the summer of 2008
According to Cheryl Hanson, lead University architect for the Rendezvous Complex, the third floor was never slated for completion by opening from the beginning of the project. Hanson said that plans are in the works for the completion of at least 10 of the unfinished spaces of the third floor by winter semester. Some of these spaces will be utilized to house things such as a new Math 108 lab and tutoring center, which is currently located in Owen Redfield Complex.
"The top floor (of the classroom portion of the building) is about 50 percent complete and we now have plans and the funding to move the Center for Teaching and Learning to the top floor," Buffaloe said in a statement made on the ISU website. "We'll have that completed right after the first of the year, and we're putting in two Math 108 classrooms adjacent to the teaching center."
According to the ISU website statement, the third floor will be roughly 80 percent occupied once this move is made.
The 250-seat planetarium, which was another unfinished aspect of the Rendezvous when it opened, will operate solely as a lecture hall until a donor or donors can be found to fund the technology it requires. The projector and full sound system will cost an estimated $2 million, and will allow the domed ceiling of the multistory room to be used for both planetarium presentations, as well as 360-degree movie presentations.
According to Lowell Richards, Executive Director of ISU Student Unions and Involvement, the University doesn't plan to do all of the work to finish the Rendezvous alone.
"We want to get students involved in finishing it," Richards said.
Student involvement will take the form of placing student artwork around the Rendezvous and possible student involvement in landscaping completion. According to both Krehbiel and Richards, a plan is also in the works to involve civil engineering students in the completion of the Rendezvous as well, the extent of which will be announced in the near future.
Despite the problems associated with the opening of the Rendezvous, ISU President Arthur C. Vailas said he's happy with the result, and wasn't surprised by the issues that arose.
"There are hiccups in new facilities," Vailas said. "This happens with all new constructions, and this is no different. We've tried to resolve those quick, and bring all the functionalities up to speed. I still commend the previous administrations and students for getting this (the Rendezvous Complex) going."

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