Desolate and bleak, Weeks Hall has sat on the edge of Memorial Circle uninhabited since it became decommissioned as a dormitory in 1991. However, construction crews are active on the site which Texas Tech University administration officials hope will be revitalized to accommodate numerous departments in need of additional space.
Constructed in 1957, the hall was originally a girls-only dormitory and was created to accompany the all-male Doak Hall. Because of the building’s age and prominent location on the corner of Broadway and University Avenue, the overall goal of the renovation was to preserve the exterior while updating its interior as a collaborative workspace, Noel Sloan, vice president for administration and finance, said.
“Well certainly it is an iconic building,” Sloan said. “And so, we were very cognizant of wanting to maintain that historic nature of it — so much so that we actually started talking about securing a (historical) tax credit for it very early on.”
Texas Tech’s administration began the step-by-step process of working with the State of Texas to preserve the exterior of the building to maintain its eligibility for historical tax credit status, she said. Because its interior layout is still a dormitory, however, expansive work must be done to transform the area into office space. The project’s $24.5 million budget was approved by the Board of Regents, and is expected to be completed in May 2020, Sloan said. With Drane Hall renovated to function primarily as a student services hub, Weeks Hall will operate in both a student and academic capacity.
“It really frees up room for other areas that have grown over time and have outgrown their space,” she said. “The whole goal is to hopefully increase space in academic buildings for growing academic units by moving some of them into this new location.”
The Departments of Arts and Sciences and Human Sciences offices will be relocating to Weeks Hall, as well as both the Undergraduate and Graduate Writing Center offices and Student Disability Services office. Placing the SDS office on a ground-level floor and creating a conducive space for the writing centers were long overdue changes in terms of convenience, Sloan said.
An array of services will be available for both undergraduate and graduate students in the renovated space, Sean Childers, assistant vice president for operations, said. Located within the Texas Tech Administration Building as of Sept. 2019, the Graduate Center will also be relocating to Weeks Hall upon completion of the redevelopments.
“With that section being the main doorway of campus, we’re really trying to take a reproached look at that area as people come on the campus,” Childers said. “Considering that we are coming up on the university’s centennial in 2023, we wanted to keep the historical nature while still adding the flexibility and the utilization of the spaces in a way that’s really (modern).”
Additionally, the Texas Tech Reserve Officer Training Corps will be receiving office space in the refurbished building. Presently, ROTC occupies space within the College of Media and Communication, which itself will be able to reutilize the newly vacated space, he said.
By shuffling from one space to another, the renovation will create a domino effect of new applicability for the departments staying in their current locations, Childers said. Despite big changes to the current arrangements, these changes will greatly benefit each of the affected departments.
“The Humanities Center will be moving in as well, so they’ll move down the street from Drane Hall to fill that space,” he said. “You can really see just how useful that is, because it’s not just about filling up Weeks Hall but also freeing up space for the remaining departments to grow.”
One of the building’s new features will include moveable walls to maximize space-efficiency within the offices, Brandon Hennington, managing director for the operations division of planning and administration, said. Weeks Hall’s contemporary interior design will be contrasted by its vintage exterior.
Since 2015, a section of the building has been used by the Department of Visual and Performing Arts as a costume design location, Hennington said. It is unclear if the department will continue to use that area for costume design upon completion of the renovation.
“During the conceptualization phase of our planning, we envisioned an office space that was very modular,” he said. “And so, with the moveable spaces and the open concept, we saw an opportunity to make this a collaborative and versatile environment.”
About Reece Nations: Undergraduate Managing Editor
