[natural sound: construction chisel]
Students say that the construction on campus makes it challenging to navigate.
SAPPHIRE HUNTER: I would say sometimes it makes it very inconvenient when trying to get from South to North Campus, since I do have to go up north quite a few times and pass, like, the libraries and stuff like that. And there’s a lot of construction over there. So it could be a little inconvenient.
That’s Sapphire Hunter, a McCormick freshman still learning how to navigate her way around campus but the construction on the Jacobs Center, which will be transformed into a hub for global health and social sciences, makes it difficult.
HUNTER: Most of the time it’s where they’re building the new Global Studies building and also like near Deering. It’s like near Deering and Main. There’s like construction there and that could be like a lot.
[natural sound: construction on the Jacobs Center]
Second-year transfer student Nathaniel Janssen learned to navigate campus construction pretty well at his prior university. But he finds the construction on Northwestern’s campus around the bridge that students often use to get from South to North campus, pretty frustrating.
NATHANIEL JANSSEN: But there’s one annoyance. That’s the south bridge to the lakefill being closed, that kind of annoying for any events that are on the Lakefill because I live in the South Area. So, like, having to walk the extra, I don’t know what the exact distance is, but it feels like a long way to go up to the top to go back down the Lakefill and then to get back to go back up top to come back down.
Northwestern is currently constructing The Norris Student Center, The Deering Libary and The Jacobs Center which are all set to be completed by 2026. David Stone, director of construction at Northwestern, says that he and his team value students’ concerns. He says his team is working to make it easier to move around.
DAVID STONE: We do a lot of signage. We work with the contractors to make sure their signage showing any pathway detours or temporary closures — um, we would never cut completely cut off access to a building. But, um, unless that building is under renovation and, um, the, the real goal is to make sure that there are safe ways for students to move north and south and east and west on campus, um, without having to go into streets or walk in roadways.
Jaden Ordonez, a McCormick junior living off campus, would not say that the construction impacts his ability to navigate campus, but it does change the aesthetic.
JADEN ORDONEZ: I live on Chicago Avenue which is, I live like a block or two away from Trader Joe’s a little north, and I just kind of walk straight to Tech. So I don’t really interact with the construction at Norris a lot, but when I am there it does mess up the vibe.
Hunter says that she applied to Northwestern partly for the Gothic-style Deering Library, but due to renovations, it is closed for the school year.
HUNTER: That’s like one of the main reasons I applied here because I wanted like a gothic style library. Like and I thought I was like I saw Deering. I was like oh Northwestern has it all even like the gothic library and everything. And then when I got here and they’re like oh it’s not gonna be open. Um, I was like wow due to construction. I was like wow. But and then like yeah it’s kind of like false hope.
Although the construction has slightly changed the look of the campus, Stone says maintaining a nice campus appearance is important as the renovations continue.
STONE: The reason we put that green screen on the fences is to try to improve the look of the, the appearance of the job sites. And it also keeps debris from blowing off of the job sites. But, that is a student experience thing that we want it to be a campus, that students are, are not only comfortable coming to and feel safe, but that they’re proud to be on our campus and proud that it’s their campus.
Despite her hopes of studying in Deering this year, Hunter is somewhat hopeful about what the new construction will bring.
HUNTER: Um yeah I’m actually excited. It does seem like there’s gonna be like a lot of new cool stuff that like us students get to like enjoy and I think it would just be beneficial for like everyone on campus. It’s just like right now it’s like a mess.
Janssen is also excited but feels some hesitancy about the outcomes of the construction.
JANSSEN: Yeah, I’m kind of psyched. I mean, the concepts always look cool because they’re concepts. They have to look cool. I think if they look even similar to what’s being shown as a preview, it’ll be sweet, but we’ll see. There’s always difficulties with construction and changes in the plan.
But Ordonez just wants the construction to be over and worries that the Cohen Lawn project, which will transform the current Norris lawn into a patio and performance pavilion, will take away some of the campus green space.
ORDONEZ: Like if anything kind of takes away some of the green space. Because you’re kind of looking out the window and like a unison within like the patio to like the green Lake fill and then towards the water like now they’re just more concrete in the way, which I mean it’s low bearing So it doesn’t really mess with the vibe as much but um, not necessarily looking for I mean it’ll be nice, but I think it’ll be nice the fact that it’s over the construction versus the actual finished product.
Although it may seem like a busy construction year on campus, Stone says that it’s the busiest he’s seen. Instead, it feels like an especially active year because of where the construction is on campus.
STONE: Um, this time we’ve got — you know, we’ve got the work going on in Deering, which doesn’t have a lot of impacts except for the closing of the library. But then we’ve got Jacobs and we’ve got the boiler plant, which is kind of right behind, um, on, on a site plant. So there is just a lot going on on campus and that, you know, that center part of campus is a real pinch point. And so, um, we work really hard to coordinate projects there, uh, just to, to try to make sure that we’re leaving those pedestrian paths and, and safe access.
Hopefully, students find that the few extra steps that they had to take to class were worth it once everything is complete.
[natural sound: construction on the Jacobs Center]
[Music: Instrumental beat by Moriah Pettway]
Music by Moriah Pettway
For WNUR News, I’m Moriah Pettway.
