Residence Hall Upgrades
As part of the overall investment in the residential experience, Colby is committing at least $50 million to upgrade its existing residences over the next several years. This will include Heights, Hillside, East Quad, Anthony-Mitchell-Schupf, Averill, Mary Low/Coburn, Johnson, Perkins-Wilson, Pierce, Piper, Treworgy, and Foss/Woodman halls, some of which began to receive initial upgrades in the summer of 2024 and will continue to undergo additional work over the next four years along with other buildings.
About Us
Our services include assistance with planned and anticipated projects; managing planning/feasibility studies for potential projects; working with the Operations & Maintenance and the Sustainability teams to incorporate their goals and standards into projects; and coordinating with consultants, contractors, and stakeholders to manage design and construction work to ensure projects meet scope, budget, and schedule.
Current Projects
New Science Complex
The new facility, which is expected to open in 2030, will support the radical changes in how science is practiced today and in the future. With approximately 200,000 square feet, it will comprise teaching and research laboratories, classrooms, offices, fabrication labs, specialized equipment and computing infrastructure, and gathering spaces.
Levine’s Discovery Headquarters
The new Levine’s Discovery Headquarters will be housed in the renovated Runnals Building, which will reopen in fall 2027 as a modern, 40,000-square-foot community and discovery space with flexible project rooms, maker spaces, offices, and an adaptable open multipurpose central creative core. It will become a hub where students will explore new ideas and engage in projects supported by the Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Colby’s various academic labs that encourage creativity, research, and innovation.
New Residence Hall
The new residence hall, slated to open in fall 2026, will be located on Mayflower Hill Drive across from the Diamond Building and adjacent to Cotter Union. The building will offer a distinct level of quality in its design of living spaces and common areas to facilitate community-building.
Completed Projects
Gordon Center For Creative and Performing Arts
Named in honor of Life Trustee Michael Gordon, an alumnus from the Class of 1966, the $95-million, 74,000-square-foot building is one of the most advanced and innovative performing arts facilities in New England and the new home for the departments of Music, Cinema Studies, and Performance, Theater, and Dance. With a unique combination of highly flexible, multipurpose performance areas and studios, the Gordon Center, which was designed for teaching, performing, and most importantly, creating, will provide transformational opportunities and experiences for Colby students and the broader community.
Residence Halls at Johnson Pond
The Paula Crane Lunder House, Jane Powers House, Jacqueline Núñez House, and Carol Swann-Daniels House enshrined the legacies of four women who have improved the lives of generations of students through their commitment to fairness, equity, and access. Approximately 200 students live in the sustainable, wood-sided residences, which were designed by Kaplan Thompson Architects to honor the aesthetic of houses across Maine.
Paul J. Schupf Art Center
Developed in partnership by Colby College and Waterville Creates, the new home for Waterville’s leading arts institutions marks the completion of the initial strategy to support the city’s resurgence. The $18-million Paul J. Schupf Art Center is a hub and destination for the arts, bringing under one roof Waterville’s leading arts institutions. Connecting directly to the historic Waterville Opera House, the 32,000-square-foot center is home to community arts organization Waterville Creates and its three programming divisions—the Maine Film Center, Ticonic Gallery + Studios, and the Waterville Opera House.
Greene Block + Studios
The Greene Block + Studios is Colby’s one-of-a-kind space for artistic creation, innovation, and community interaction at the southern gateway to the city’s Main Street. The $6.5-million building offers vibrant arts programming, provides space for interdisciplinary artistic collaborations, and promotes the development of creative work by Maine and national artists, educators, scholars, and students.
Lockwood Hotel
Merging the classic, natural beauty of New England with the comfort and convenience of modern hospitality, our downtown Waterville hotel offers a one-of-a-kind home base for exploring Maine’s many unexpected treasures. Offering idyllic views of vibrant Main Street or the rushing waters of the Kennebec River, each of our 53 hotel rooms and suites in central Maine sets the stage for an unforgettable New England escape. The hotel’s on-site restaurant, Front & Main, aims to transform the local food scene with creative nourishing cuisine sourced lovingly from Maine’s own farms, fields, bays, and oceans.
Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center
The 350,000-square-foot state-of-the-art building is the most advanced and comprehensive NCAA D-III facility in the country, and one in a series of major investments by the College to create and support best-in-class programs and initiatives. It was made possible in large part from the generous philanthropic support of the Harold Alfond Foundation, a longtime contributor to Colby College.
Athletic Fields
Three new athletics fields were created — one infilled synthetic-turf competition field for field hockey, women’s lacrosse, and soccer; one natural-grass competition field for soccer; and one natural-grass practice field. The two competition fields are constructed in “bowls” to reduce wind on the fields and to provide opportunities for spectator seating around the grass perimeter in addition to seating for 350 in the permanent aluminum bleachers at each site.
Grossman Hall | DavisConnects
The newly renovated Grossman Hall is home to Colby’s innovative DavisConnects program, launched in 2017 with a $25-million gift from Andrew Davis ’85 and his family. DavisConnects provides Colby students global internship and research experiences regardless of their personal and financial networks. The building contains rooms equipped for distance interviewing, spaces for recruiters to meet with students, and a large conference room for DavisConnects programming. It also houses DavisConnects advisors, who offer career and professional counseling for Colby students beginning in their first year and throughout their time at Colby.
Outdoor Competition Center
The baseball and softball complex features a synthetic turf field and a hitting pavilion with hitting tunnels for batting practice. The complex also features on-grade dugouts, LED scoreboards, elevated bleachers behind the home plates, and public restrooms.
Miller Tower Renovation
Replaces the east-facing section of the main Miller Library roof as well as the second and final phase of the tower restoration to include copper roofing and handrail restoration and replacement.
- Area/acreage: N/A
- Date of completion: This portion of the overall Building Envelope Renewal project will be completed in fall 2019.
- Sustainability rating: N/A
Special features:
- Final phase to restore the College’s iconic landmark.
Olin Active Learning Classroom
The goal of this project is to provide more active-learning spaces on campus and improve space utilization. The relocated classroom adjacent to the Paul J. Schupf Scientific Computing Center will allow increased teaching use through flexibility and multiple layouts that accommodate traditional and active learning formats, based on faculty and student needs. The project also included new finishes, furniture, lighting, classroom technology equipment, and widening the corridor to include study/lounge spaces.
- Area/acreage: 2,950 square feet
- Date of completion: Anticipated August 2019
- Sustainability rating: LEED certification is not being specifically pursued. However, sustainable materials and design elements are incorporated, as possible. (LED lights, recycled content, and low VOC finishes, etc.)
Special features:
- Glass storefront wall
- Multiple projection surfaces and mobile furniture for flexible teaching layouts
- Casual seating areas added to the hallway
South Campus Utilities Renewal and Runnals Streetscape
Replacing steam, condensate, water, and sewer utilities in the area that are past their useful life expectancy; reconstructing a portion of Runnals Drive as a pedestrian pathway and plaza; installing waterproofing along perimeter walls of three area residence halls to prevent water infiltration.
- Area/Acreage: 2.25 acres
- Date of Completion: Anticipated October 2019
- Sustainability Rating: SITES is not being specifically pursued. However, sustainable materials and design elements are incorporated, as possible. (sustainable landscape strategies)
Special Features
- A mix of permeable and non-permeable concrete pavers will form the walk.
- A plaza will provide gathering space in front of Runnals.
- Maine materials and native plantings are used in the landscape.
Dana Lounge Renovation
The existing lounge and the Fairchild meeting room were updated and their locations switched with each other to provide more inviting and open spaces for students. The Fairchild room was designed to provide café style seating in association with the adjacent dining hall.
- Area/acreage: 3,058 square feet
- Date of completion: August 2018
- Sustainability rating: LEED certification was not specifically pursued. However, sustainable materials and design elements were incorporated, as possible. (LED lights, recycled content finishes, etc.)
Special features
- New contemporary finishes and furniture throughout, encouraging student use.
- Fairchild room is now a student lounge with a mix of seating options and a gas-fired fireplace.
- The new meeting room has a permanent audio-visual system and is a more useable, flexible space.
Mary Low Coffeehouse
This is a student-run coffeehouse. The space was renovated with new finishes and furnishings requested by students to provide a more aesthetically pleasing, inviting atmosphere. Goals were to provide furniture that allows for group study and for faculty to teach or have coffee with students; and additional comfortable furniture for socializing.
- Area/acreage: 950 square feet
- Date of completion: August 2017
- Sustainability rating: LEED certification was not specifically pursued. However, sustainable materials and design elements were incorporated, as possible. (Low VOC paint, low maintenance flooring.)
Special features
- Large (eight-person) table for group studying was installed, along with several smaller tables, allowing for much more study space.
- In summer 2018 the adjacent lounge space was renovated to complement the coffeehouse and glass doors were installed. When the coffeehouse is open for business, these doors are open, which allows for more seating and study space.
Miller Quad Lighting
Added LED lighting to the façades of Lovejoy, Keyes, Eustis, and Arey buildings. Upgraded overhead lighting to walkways around Miller Quad to improve illumination levels.
- Area/acreage: N/A
- Date of completion: March 2019
- Sustainability rating: N/A
Special features
- Provides safer walkways at night
- Highlights the architectural beauty of the College’s main quadrangle
Muleworks Innovation Lab
Renovated a storage space to create a lab where students from every discipline come together to explore new interactive technologies to generate innovative forms of scholarship and creative expression.
- Area/acreage: 444 square feet
- Date of completion: September 2017
- Sustainability rating: LEED certification was not specifically pursued. However, sustainable materials and design elements were incorporated, as possible. (LED lights, recycled content and low VOC finishes, etc.)
Special features
- Laser cutter, 3D printer, virtual reality space
- Changes animate corridor and allows views of innovation lab activity
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Paul J. Schupf Computational Chemistry Laboratory
Relocation of the existing Schupf Computer Lab to a portion of the existing Olin Science Center to allow for the existing lab to be utilized for a faculty lab, the Schupf Scientific Computing Center, which is more appropriate for that location. The lab consists of computer workstations and a large visualization wall.
- Area/acreage: 1,031 square feet
- Date of completion: February 2019
- Sustainability rating: LEED certification was not specifically pursued. However, sustainable materials and design elements were incorporated, as possible. (LED lights, recycled content, and low VOC finishes, etc.)
Special features
- Large-format visualization wall for use by a number of academic departments
- Flexible seating for a range of users and teaching needs