Groundbreaking

Mark Zurolo ’01MFA

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If you haven’t been to campus recently, the sight of Hewitt Quadrangle in unpaved disarray may be a bit of a shock. But the quad has been rebuilt more than once in living memory. In 1963, the architects of the new Beinecke Library colonized the entire space with granite paving, leading to the unofficial but common moniker “Beinecke Plaza.” A less drastic 2005 renovation replaced the paving and introduced an elliptical area, with benches, near the entrance to Memorial Hall.

This time, the plaza has been torn up for work on the Schwarzman Center, a campus center in the basement of Commons and the upper levels of Memorial Hall. Rest assured: the plaza, with its Alexander Calder sculpture, flagpole, and cenotaph, will be back to normal in 2020. And Commons will still be a dining hall, but it will be equipped for other events, too.