1980-1993. Maturity: The Years of Broadening and Deepening
The Continuing Saga of Housing and Space: The Move to the Main Campus
At one of the first meetings of the Council of Fellows after Sievers' appointment, a strong
case was made that he should concentrate his time and effort on the acquisition or construction
of a suitable building on campus to house CIRES. His first efforts culminated in a document, Program Plan for Earth and Environmental Sciences Center, May 1982. This plan, prepared in cooperation with the Department of Geological Sciences and the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, was a response to a
request from the administration of the Boulder campus. This grand plan called for a single large building to house all three units, CIRES, Geological Sciences, and INSTAAR, but failed because the costs were deemed excessive.
A scaled-down plan for CIRES only, that would provide approximately
20,000 square feet of space on the main campus, contiguous with
the Cristol Chemistry and the Ekeley Sciences buildings, was developed
by Sievers, beginning in 1983. As an intermediate step, the administrative
offices of CIRES were moved in 1984 into space in Ekeley that had become
available. Funds for the necessary remodeling were provided. Although
the separation of the administration from the proximity to the
ERL headquarters and the concentration of CIRES activities in rl-1 and
rl-2 on the east campus caused some inconvenience, it was recognized as
a further reflection of the price paid by the Institute for the lack of the
building on the main campus, as envisioned in the 1960s.
The long-standing conflicts between the aspirations and plans of
CIRES and those of other campus units re-surfaced, as evidenced in a letter
of June 12, 1984 from Chancellor Harrison Shull to an associate dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences. The determination of the campus administration
to honor its commitment to CIRES is also indicated in this
letter, as is the status of planning. Excerpts are quoted.
I do not accept your statement that central campus activities should be
reserved solely for "general fund" activities. Research is certainly of equal
importance to teaching, and this is true whether or not the research is
funded by general fund dollars or sponsored by external agencies. It follows
that there is no special priority for College of Arts and Sciences activities
over other regular University research activities, such as those
conducted within CIRES. May I remind you that most of the CIRES
fellows are members of the College of Arts and Sciences faculty.
... Moreover, the University has a long-standing commitment to build a
building for this Institute, a commitment which I have reconfirmed since
becoming the Chancellor of the Boulder Campus.
In view of this, and in view of the fact that Pharmacy will eventually be
vacating its space in Ekeley, I think that it is appropriate that CIRES
should relocate its environmental chemistry and solid-earth geophysics
programs into this space and that the University should consider carefully
a plan to construct an addition to Ekeley that would: (1) house these
CIRES components, and (2) in addition provide, either in the addition or
in existing Ekeley space, adequate additional space for the biochemistry
section of the Chemistry department. The location of CIRES' other major
program, climate dynamics, may remain on 30th Street since it interacts
heavily with NOAA. I note that the bulk of the fellows involved in this
move are regular faculty members in either chemistry or geology and conclude
that providing them with this space contributes significantly to these
departments and meets our commitment to CIRES.
Vice Chancellors Tedesco and Ekstrand have requested Director Sievers
to proceed with the development of a program plan and have asked him
to include consideration of the needs of biochemistry in this plan....
Sievers' 1983 plan came to life with the ground-breaking for the new
CIRES building in 1987. The award-winning design, based on a bridge
between Cristol Chemistry and Ekeley Sciences, provided space for laboratories
and offices without taking more of the open space of the campus.
Historic Boulder, an historic preservation group, honored CIRES with its
"Best Historic Infill Award." The move of the solid-earth and chemistry
activities from rl-1 to the CIRES building occurred in the spring of 1988.
For the reason stated in the Chancellor's letter, above, and the limitations
of space, the activities in RL-2 remained there.
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