With so many English majors at USM, there should be a better way to describe the new Joel and Linda Abromson Community Education Center, but there’s not. In four and a half words: It’s just really cool. That seemed to be the consensus of the hundred or so people milling about the building, munching on popcorn during the grand opening celebrations on Tuesday, April 26, while nostalgic renditions of “Take me out to the ball game,” and the national anthem played in the background. The theme of the grand opening: baseball, which in Maine means Red Sox.
Seeming to radiate the light which filled the building, Bill Smith was literally glowing as he watched the people walking around. For Smith, project designer of Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering, this celebration is the equivalent of a post-finals party, minus the alcohol.
“People will be seeing this building for the first time five years from now,” said Smith.
Inside and out
For those students who haven’t been to the Portland campus in a while, or haven’t got the time to go poking around every new building that opens up, the Abromson Center is the ultra-shiny, ultra-modern looking, glass and metal construction abutting the parking garage. Aside from bringing various University entities, which were formerly located away from the campus at 68 High St., to a more central location, the building distinguishes the Portland campus from the rest of the city.
“There was no gateway as you drove up Bedford [Street],” said Smith. This played a key role in the design of the building. According to Smith, the design committee focused on “having this building proudly face Bedford.”
The inside is just as spiffy. One of the more contentious areas of the building, the atrium style lobby received criticism in the planning stages as being a waste of space. But, according to Smith, the space connects the two floors of Hannaford Hall so when people mingle during an intermission they’re always part of a group. And what a group it can be: The lobby area can accommodate the same quantity of people as Hannaford Hall, 500, or say the 300 students, faculty, and staff, that will pass through there when classes are in session. As well as a through-way, the lobby was planned as a place to hang out. “Social spaces on campus are as important as teaching spaces,” said Smith. “As much incidental learning takes place as purposeful learning.”
“Take me out to the ball game” was playing, again, in the lobby. As those celebrating the building drifted from the lobby into Hannaford Hall, one of the more subtle design features of the building could be seen, or rather, heard. The acoustics of the building keep noises from the lobby out of Hannaford Hall: voices, music from the speaker hanging above the front doors of the center, it all stops at the doors of the hall.
Practically speaking
Bob Hansen, the executive director of Community and Professional Education, moved into his new first floor office in the center a few weeks ago. The office faces westerly, towards The Free Press offices, and by early afternoon light levels in it were noticeably rising. “What’s really exciting is how light filled this building is,” said Hansen. He pointed to a shiny screen jutting out perpendicular to the windows- a simple device to reflect more sun into the room. “68 High Street had a lot of character,” he said. “But it was cavernous.”
Before moving into this office, Hansen worked in Payson Smith, directing 10 different education “units” on campus including Pathways, Off-campus Learning, International Exchange, and so on. These units were scattered between High Street, Payson Smith and the Sullivan Sports Complex. Now, most of these groups can be found on the Portland campus, more centralized, with those at High Street moving to the new center. “This is going to be the nexus where the University community interacts with the community at large,” said Hansen.