Utilities in Marshak Take a Hiatus

Large-Scale Project Forces Air Conditioning and Heating Shutdown by Anthony ViolaThe Marshak Building will be without heat or air-conditioning for the next four weeks as it undergoes major renovations. Last Friday, the Office of Facilities Management shared with the college community an email outlining the plans. Having started on April 11, the science building’s heating and cooling systems has come to a halt.This action marks one phase of several in what David Robinson, assistant vice president of facilities, calls a comprehensive upgrade of the heating, cooling and ventilation systems for the building. According to Robinson, “two important pieces of work have been previously completed that now needs to be tied together.” Already, 90 percent of the vertical piping has been replaced alongside additional connections from Marshak to the North Academic Center.The community broadcast explains that during this period, the Dormitory of the State of New York will provide supplemental air conditioning to the main lecture halls on the ground floor on warmer days. On colder days, there will be no heating at all.According to some students, the building’s temperature feels like it’s already dropping. The three days leading up to the phase’s initiation, the average outside air temperature was 39.86 degrees. Christopher Chong, a senior studying physics, explains that the fourth floor was cooler than usual. “It might’ve been a subconscious reaction to my professor lecturing on thermodynamics, but some of my peers left their jackets on during the entire class,” says Chong.The outside temperature is expected to rise to as high as 74 degrees towards the end of the week. Facilities promises to monitor the needs of the building until the project’s completion. As for the heat and air conditioning, the latest they will stall until will be May 10.