Brighter and better

Carolyn Green was the project manager for the J-Building common room. (Nick Pearce Photo)

One of the nicest rooms on the Dalhousie campus is now even nicer.

Room 134 in the J-Building on Sexton Campus has been transformed into a comfortable, laidback space for students to meet for group work or to study quietly between classes.

“These common areas are designed a little bit differently these days,” says Carolyn Green, project manager for Facilities Management. “There’s a lot more group work and students tend to like to sit together at tables, rather than sitting individually in study carrels.”

Offering views of the Old Burying Ground and Barrington Street, the common room features new flip-top tables, stackable chairs and white boards on wheels that can be easily moved and used as barriers. There’s new carpeting, lighting and blinds for the large windows. The room is decorated in Dalhousie colours, including Dal gold on a feature wall and dark grey for the carpeting.

Student have card access entry to the room, to ensure it is for their use alone and a safe place to work.

The space, which does double duty as the home of the Student Union Sexton Executive, can be easily reconfigured for larger receptions or parties. There’s also a separate meeting room behind a glassed wall.

“It was really rather nondescript before, and I think the students are already getting good use out of it,” says Ms. Green, who consulted with students in planning the room.

In the last year, she also worked on the transformation of the Student Resource Centre in the Chase Building, the Mark A. Hill Accessibility Centre and on new classrooms in the Weldon Law Building. She’s taking early retirement from Dalhousie and plans to spend her time growing organic fruits and vegetables on a farm near Windsor.