Until this weekend, catching a glimpse of the library roof's panoramic vista has meant peering through fencing and past building equipment. On Friday, though, the Tisch Library roof opened to the public for the first time since construction began after classes ended last spring.
The rooftop construction project aimed to turn the mix of concrete and grassy patches atop Tisch Library into an artistic space complete with three outdoor "rooms" of varying sizes. It also has brought the roof up to code by adding a higher railing along the roof's sides, and made it handicap-compliant, eliminating steps up to the main area.
Surprised students passing by the library wasted no time discovering the area's new contours and revisiting a popular hangout spot.
"I've been up here about an hour," Ray Santangelo, senior construction project manager, said on Friday afternoon after the opening. "It's amazing how many people have been out here."
Unseasonably warm weather at the beginning of the weekend made it possible for many to enjoy the new area for an extended period of time. The mercury hit 60 degrees on Friday, and temperatures remained in the mid- to upper-40s during Saturday afternoon.
Mounds of mulch now mark an area where daffodils and hostas will one day sprout up. Newly planted birch trees have taken root across the rooftop.
LED lamps will illuminate the space, a feature Santangelo called "very energy-efficient."
Freshman Lauren Weiner sat on a step near the center of the roof on Friday, "in the zone" while studying for a sociology course, she said.
"I think it's a nice, quiet, meditative spot," Weiner said of the roof. "It's very inspirational."
One section of the rooftop, under part of a trellis near the entrance, remains uncompleted, as does a part of the entrance plaza, which adjoins the Academic Quad. Work on those sections and some other details could finish in less than two weeks, depending on how hard yesterday's and today's snowstorms hit, Santangelo said.
A "horrible winter" has complicated construction and meant that workers have had to spend lots of time chipping away ice and shoveling snow, Santangelo said.
Different university officials have cited several target completion dates over the course of the project, but Santangelo said that the construction remains on schedule, with "95 percent" of the roof now open.
After University President Lawrence Bacow originally proposed redoing the roof, a committee of artists, Tufts administrators and Museum School students selected Jackie Ferrara, a renowned sculptor, and M. Paul Friedberg, a landscape architect, to design the new space.
Central to the roof's layout are three "rooms," or notable divisions of space where students can work, hold meetings or just relax.
The largest "room" includes trellises, a gathering space that can hold up to 70 people and a yet-to-be-completed sundial.
The sundial in the largest space will be finished closer to the beginning of summer. Then, Santangelo said, workers will use marble to denote the locations of shadows from the stainless-steel sundial structure -- now in place -- at different times of day.
A medium-sized "room" has a giant chessboard design on the floor, and plans call for benches and stools.
The small room is centrally located and separated from the other two by planters and trees. The area is designed to hold seven or eight people, and the design includes built-in tables. Wisteria will eventually cover a structure surrounding this room, seemingly enclosing it, Santangelo said.
The renovation was funded by a donation from Tom and Andrea Mendell, parents of former Tufts student Alex Mendell, who committed suicide in 2003. A ceremony marking the project's completion will take place later this spring.
On Friday afternoon, senior Taeil Kwak sat on a step on the far side of the roof, studying with books and laptop in hand. Although he enjoyed the changes, he reminisced about the old rooftop.
"It looks really nice; it looks a lot more modern," he said, but added, "I do miss the grass."
