Newsletter

Winter 2000: Notes from Pacific Rim

Building Construction
By Dr. Cal DeWitt

Carpenters and electricians are now a regular part of the scene at our new campus on Whidbey Island. They are renovating buildings that came with the 175-acre site we purchased from Washington State June 30, 1999. Formerly used for raising game birds, the structures are being transformed into a chapel/auditorium, classroom building, small lodge, and laboratory! All four buildings are slated for completion by mid-summer, 2001. The workers are joined by about 50 volunteers who have been working on Saturdays. These volunteers are also doing painting, repairs and general clean-up.

The four buildings are in various phases of renovation: The Granary, a wonderfully-constructed building of about 40 by 40 feet, has been transformed into a chapel/auditorium and is about 80% complete. Interior walls have been removed and the inside has become beautiful and spacious. Two 27-inch laminated beams now hold up the roof, and light floods in from double-glazed windows in the end walls. Seen through the windows, the prairie view invites people to move outside onto the natural landscape. A radiant floor heating system will use tubes embedded in concrete to heat the building. A counter-current heat exchanger will provide fresh air while retaining internal building heat. It will be a wonderful place for singing the doxology!

The Barn, about twice the size of The Granary, will become a classroom building with views out onto Smith Prairie. It is about 10% completed and will also house an office and a dining area. As funds come in from donors over the next months, we expect to be able to build a kitchen wing to serve the dining area.

Plans have been completed for transforming The 25- by 30-foot Roost, into a lodge. It will be a cozy place for relaxation, reading, and study. The Incubator, a small concrete block building that once functioned as a pheasant hatchery, will become a small laboratory for environmental analysis and will house herbarium cabinets and dryer, largely to serve prairie restoration work.

At this point work is about one month ahead of schedule. Contractors and suppliers are giving us donations and sizable discounts. Everyone is enthusiastic about the project, including the people cutting the boards and pounding the nails. Our in?floor heating in The Granary was made possible by unexpected savings in subcontractor and labor costs. The same system is now planned for the remaining buildings, using the savings from cost reductions by the concrete subcontractor and paint and roofing suppliers.

Funds continue to come in from students, alumni, faculty, staff, board members, friends, businesses, and foundations. With this growing support, we can envision a fully functional campus in the near future! Your help has been vital! We hope you keep it up, and bring this worthy project to the attention of others who might wish to support this new opportunity to further Au Sable's mission.

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