Months of Construction at Academy Result in Cooler Library and State-of-the-Art Meeting Rooms

NEW YORK CITY, Oct. 28 -- Reading in the Academy library has long been a pleasurable pursuit, except during the sweltering summer months. The library has lacked air conditioning since it was built in 1926, and had to be closed to the public when the heat grew unbearable.

The Academy library under construction.

Those days are finally over. Installation of a $2.1 million HVAC system was completed in October after six months of grueling summertime construction during which the library was closed to readers. The main reading room and the nine floors of 800,000 shelved books are now fully climate-controlled, creating a more hospitable environment for people and publications alike. When the mercury inevitably rises again next summer, anyone walking through the library???s doors will feel refreshed.

???It???s been a massive project,??? said Janice Kaplan, M.Ln., the Academy???s Director of Library Services. ???We???re all excited to have the public back in and to have the telephones ringing again.???

The library was not the only section of the Academy renovated in 2003. Teams from Sciame Construction Company gutted the second-floor meeting rooms down to the beams and wires in June, and hustled to renovate them by October in time for a busy conference schedule. The rooms are newly equipped with high speed wireless Internet access, allowing laptop owners to go online and check email from their seats. A ???smart lectern??? has a built-in wireless computer that eliminates the need for presenters to lug laptops to their talks, and offers built-in controls for lights and projectors. A new moveable wall allows the meeting room to be enlarged or subdivided as needed. Long-hidden windows overlooking Fifth Avenue were exposed once again, and showcase the Academy???s fabulous Central Park view. The new meeting space enhances the Academy???s capacity to serve as a center of collaboration and education.

Improvements being made to the second-floor meeting rooms.

???This gives us the opportunity to become a much more sophisticated conference center and improve our visibility,??? said Patricia Volland, M.S.W., M.B.A., the Academy???s Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance, who steered both construction projects.

The City Council generously provided $1 million to support the $2.5 million renovation of the second floor meeting rooms, and gave $1.6 million toward the library???s HVAC system. When work began in 2003, Academy staff routinely shared the sidewalk with construction crews and became accustomed to the strains of jackhammers and drills. Day after day, crews lugged a parade of tools and materials through the lobby. Staff could often catch a glimpse of something unexpected outside the building, like the concrete mixer truck parked on the Fifth Avenue sidewalk with its funnel stretched into the Academy???s second floor window.

A virtual city of aluminum ducts had to be erected on the third-floor roof to support the HVAC system and coolant-water pipes had to be installed throughout the library???s crowded stacks. (The library lost 115 shelves of book space to the pipes). Construction crews then had to carve tire-sized holes in the library???s walls to fit the ducts that will transport cool air in summer and warm air in winter. Before work could begin, library staff had to remove all publications from the shelves and pile them wherever space would allow. Reference staff relocated their desks to a third-floor meeting room for the duration of the dust-intensive project.

Construction outside the Academy.

Even after the HVAC system was successfully installed, the Academy lacked the electrical capacity to run it. The Academy was built nearly 80 years ago at a time when East Harlem was less developed and power-needy computer systems had not been invented. A large chunk of the sidewalk near the Academy???s main entrance was excavated to house a massive new transformer, which Con Edison installed to provide additional power to the Academy and surrounding community. For months, Academy staff entering and leaving the building were detoured to the sidewalk across the street. The transformer was eventually lowered by crane into the gaping hole and will soon be permanently covered by steel grating (ladies with heels, be warned). Construction in the Academy is now mostly complete, and those who???ve been intimately involved couldn???t be happier. ???It seems we???ve been at it forever,??? Volland said.

But brace yourself: a second wave of work will soon begin. Installation of air conditioning systems in Hosack Hall and the Presidents Gallery is slated for 2004.

Posted on October 28, 2003

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Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

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