Phase One Complete!

Thanks to Linda Zwicker, Jonie Bonfield and everyone else who contributed to the successful completion of Phase One of the School’s relocation! The Departments of Consumer Science and Human Development and Family Studies, as well as UW-Extension offices and Covering Kids and Families can now be found at the Middleton Library, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Back from the Windy City, a trip to the Merchandise Mart to look at furniture ideas for the building project. My feet still hurt and I won’t look at a chair the same way again.

For anyone who has never been to the Mart, close your eyes and imagine…the world’s largest commercial building, 25 stories high, about 4.2 million gross square feet over 2 city blocks. Go ahead, admit it, you are exhausted even thinking about it.

The design team (Dorschner/Sasaki) scheduled 17 showroom visits starting at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday and the last one was 12:15 p.m. on Friday. Headed down from Madison were Dean Douthitt, Professor Roberto Rengel, Angela Pakes Ahlman from UW-Madison’s FP&M office and me.

After grabbing coffee on the first floor we headed up to the first appointment – I was struck by the fact the building was vacant. Because the showrooms are all open by appointment there is no hallway traffic. Imagine 4.2 million gross square feet mostly empty – like a Hollywood movie where aliens have taken all the people away and all we are left with are the most extraordinarily appointed rooms with the most exquisite furniture.

The spaces are designed with the most wonderful lighting and elements to showcase everything “just so.”

But picture this – one place had every single chair and sofa upholstered in creamy white leather, some trimmed in dark wood – no other color, just supple leather. Nothing is more seductive than sinking into a butter soft chair that cradles and supports in just the right places, yummy. Another place had every piece of furniture done in the same rich steel gray felted wool. One showroom had every piece of office system furniture in white – these folks are good.

The other thing that blew me away was the high level of hospitality exhibited by the vendors we visited. At every appointment we were immediately and warmly greeted, offered a range of beverages and snacks including trail mix, chocolates, gummy bears, mints, nuts and the most extraordinary caramel corn. Each vendor had some kind of fabulous bag for us filled with literature, more water and snacks.

But enough about the meetings, let’s talk about the furniture!

The design team had identified 61 different seating options for us to try – we tried chairs for the reading room, stools for the café, office guest chairs, reception chairs for the Centers, chairs for faculty/staff offices, chairs for conference rooms, chairs for student areas, chairs for niche study spaces, options for the outside green roof, seating for the Gallery, classroom seating and even wonderful “snuggle” chairs for the preschool. We discussed things like the “green” story for the manufacturer and asked lots of questions: Do the café stools come with a foot rest? How high will the classroom chairs stack? Does that chair come with wheels and how much noise would it make sliding on a hard surface? Is the chair adjustable, can the piece be outside in all weather, what’s the warranty, color choices, wood options, does it swivel - you name it, we tested it.

Flexibility is a key value for the project, and boy did we see innovative solutions. Demountable wall systems with solid acoustic privacy, glass or opaque walls that can be reconfigured in a matter of a few hours; workstations where the tabletops raise or lower with pneumatics, slick technology integration and LED lighting solutions.

No more white boards! Everywhere we looked glass was the order of the day. Tabletops and wall panels with back painted glass that function with markers or paint and can be cleaned with Windex – dream of a world with no more ghosts on writing surfaces.

Here we are, just days away from Phase One of relocation and scrambling to find metal bookcases for offices and a decent conference table for the collaboration space. Imagine the day when we get to move in and everything is new, it’s clean — and oh my, it matches!

Dean Douthitt Joins the Big Purge

HLATC Progress

The Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection is now 64% packed! Slowly but surely we are making progress. You might notice some weeks we have huge jumps in numbers while other weeks show more modest increases. Rest assured we're working just as hard the entire time! Our progress rate depends heavily on the types of objects we're working with.

Here are a couple of the latest pieces to come out of storage. See more here.

Need More Crates?

If you need more crates during the period Aug. 3 - 10, please contact Linda Zwicker, lazwicker@wisc.edu, in the absence of Jonie Bonfield, building manager.

Books Move to New Home

Human Development and Family Studies faculty have purged many books from their offices, in preparation for the Department's August move. They placed the books in the Department's foyer, where other faculty and students could take them. But lately the number of books kept growing -- and growing!

At the suggestion of Professor Karen Bogenschneider, Department Admin Jane Weier contacted the Social Work Library, which was happy to take the books. Jane Weier packed them up and with Professor Bogenschneider wheeled them across Linden Drive to the library. It will take any books it can use to fill its collections and ship the remainder to Memorial Library.

Memorial Library will take what it or other campus libraries can use and donate the rest to the Friends of the UW-Madison Library for its next public sale in October. Proceeds from the sale support a lecture series, special purchases for the library collections, and visiting scholar program.

Packing -- Not Purging!

Since the beginning of the relocation process, Human Ecology has been purging and streamlining offices and spaces. But the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection is working not to get rid of materials, but to preserve them.

As of July 8, the HLATC is 62 percent packed, an extraordinary accomplishment! There are more than 13,000 pieces in the Collection, meaning that more than 8,000 have now been packed. In addition to flat pieces, the Collection includes almost 3,000 pieces on long rolls, which will make for a labor-intensive fall, since these will not fit on the elevator and will need to remain level while being carried down the stairs.

First Wave Move Dates

The first phase of relocations will be Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 11 and 12 (13th as a back-up day) to the Middleton Library (directly across the street from Human Ecology) and the basement of the Medical Sciences Building.

The next phases...
•Phase One and a Half: Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection to lease space in the fall of 2009
•Phase Two: Moves to Sterling and UHS over semester break, from December 2009 to January 2010
•Phase Three: Preschool Lab to University Housing, March 2010

Where to Put What When Purging

You can find boxes for magazines and other recyclables that do not require shredding at the back of the mailroom (rm. 130); if no boxes are available, please bring your own. Filled boxes will be picked up periodically from the back of the mailroom. Materials must be boxed, no tied bundles or loose papers. Near the boxes are shredding bins, for file folders, journals and paper of all weights and colors. Paperclips, staples and binder clips need not be removed before shredding. The bins are on wheels and can be rolled to your location, but please return them to the mailroom by 4:30 p.m. each day.

Please do not put the following items into the shredding bins: hard cover books, three-ring binders, wood, plastic, or large metal items. Continue to place newspapers in the blue bin by the elevator. Remove the contents from three-ring binders, which can go to SWAP. If you have papers with longer term value, see the UW Archives and Records Management website for information. If you have questions or furniture or other large items to purge, please contact Jonie Bonfield, facilities manager, 262-0017, jbonfield@wisc.edu.

Photo: John Hilgers properly disposes of confidential documents. Photo taken by Paige Wilder.