The Ross Commons Story
Amazingly, the local and sustainably harvested beech and birch that completes the interior of the Ross Commons dining hall was a blue print away from never leaving the forest. "In the beginning," Director of Environmental Affairs, Nan Jenks-Jay remembers, "the architects wanted cherry. A nice interior wood--sure, but you won't find so much as a board foot of it in Vermont." But through the insistence of collage officials like Jenks-Jay and Director of Facilities Planning Dave Ginevan, the project architect Tai Soo Kim soon began to embrace locally harvest wood. With the experiences of Bicentennial Hall to guide them, the Office of Facilities Planning worked with the architects and a local forestry group, Vermont Family Forests, to design a building that incorporated Vermont forest resources.
The level of planning that followed was intense. From the building design to the management of the forest, to the installation of the finished products--each step relied on the one before it. What began as a flickering idea quickly evolved into a multi-year effort that spanned the state. The links to the left offer explanation of these steps and serve to chronicle the journey of the Ross wood from the forest to its installation. The final link offers reflection on the importance of building green-for Middlebury, for Vermont's economy, and for the natural environment.
Next: Forest Management
At the Kiln
Belgian Woodworking
Completion
Forest Management
Gagnon's Sawmill
Going Up
Growney's Sawmill
Logging with Bill Torrey
Logging with John Anderson
Stark Mountain Woodworking Inc.
Tioli Inc.