Stetson-Sawyer Building Project, Williams College

The purpose of this site is to inform Williams faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, and friends about the progress of a multi-year effort to construct new office/teaching spaces, construct an off-site shelving facility for library resources, renovate Stetson Hall, and construct a new library/IT center to replace Sawyer Library.

Planning for the project commenced in 1998. After an extended process of programming and design, the College began construction of two new office/classroom buildings in 2007. They were completed and occupied by the faculty in August 2008. At about the same time, the new shelving facility was opened a short distance from campus. Final construction drawings for the new library and IT center will be delivered by the architects in May 2009. Construction of this building, which will be attached to a renovated Stetson Hall, is expected to take more than two years. The project will conclude with the razing of the existing Sawyer Library and conversion of this portion of the site into a green that ties together Stetson Hall, the two new academic buildings, Chapin Hall, and the new Paresky Center.

In response to the global economic crisis that began to unfold in the fall of 2008, construction of the library/IT center, as well as all other major campus building projects, was postponed by the President and Trustees until 2011. We are pleased to report that the library/IT phase has been relaunched and will be completed in 2014, as shown on the project timeline.

Michael F. Brown and David Pilachowski, Co-Chairs
Page last updated November 2011

KEY LINKS AND RESOURCES

Latest information on the progress of construction of New Sawyer Library.
October 2010: President Adam Falk announces unfreezing of Stetson-Sawyer Project; construction of new library to commence in Spring 2011 with an anticipated completion date of 2014 (Story in Williams Record; story in the Berkshire Eagle.)
May 2010: President Falk's memo on new name conferred on NAB: Hollander Halll. A year earlier, the SAB was renamed Schapiro Hall.
February 2010: Sawyer Library's website debuts CGI image of Stetson Green after new library has been constructed and Sawyer Library razed.
September 2009: NAB and Schapiro Hall awarded LEED Gold Status by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Information on OIT's future Center for Media Initiatives in New Sawyer Library.
Alumni Relations online diary by Steve Satullo '69 about construction of New Library
Information about the Stetson-Sawyer Project's sustainability efforts
New Library Elevations, June 2008. (Drawings from Design Development stage and subject to change.)
Artist's rendering of NE area of campus after completion of Stetson-Sawyer Project in 2011. In this image, the two new academic buildings have been completed, as has the New Sawyer addition to Stetson Hall; the existing Sawyer Library has been razed. Image does not include landscaping.
Artist's rendering of entire project when completed in 2011.
PowerPoint presentation of all three new buildings; prepared by architects in January 2007. Please note: exterior elevations of new Sawyer Library & Technology Center are still provisional.

The New ~~North and South Academic Buildings~~ Hollander and Schapiro Halls

Images of completed buildings, Fall 2008. (Professional photographs of the buildings, obtained for the website of the project architects, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, can be reviewed here.)

Inauguration (January 2009) of new Faculty Lounge in the NAB and artist's reception for Ed Epping, whose paintings and prints currently hang in the lounge.

NAB-SAB construction images, from ground-breaking to completion, 2007-2008.

News stories about the Stetson-Sawyer Project

Project history and documentation, 1998-2005

LINK TO PASSWORD-PROTECTED SITE FOR STETSON-SAWYER COMMITTEE