The Hopkins Center
THE new concept of the Hopkins Center, as approved by the Trustees, combines social and creative art facilities that will add, in.the words of President Dickey, "a new dimension in the educational experience to be had at Dartmouth." Dropped from the revised plans is the large auditorium that was the central feature of the Hopkins Center plans prepared some years ago and then put aside because of more pressing College needs. As now visualized, the Center will still provide the undergraduate social facilities so acutely needed, and it will also contain a little theatre seating 450 persons and a separate, goo-seat auditorium primarily for instructional purposes. Where the present concept breaks into exciting new ground is the combining of galleries, studios and workshops for the creative arts, as well as theatrical and musical facilities, with the everyday social activities of Dartmouth undergraduates, so that "both the doing and the viewing" of these varied arts will become a part of the daily life of the liberally educated man.
Nelson A. Rockefeller '30 has accepted the chairmanship of the Hopkins Center Planning Committee, which is responsible for planning the Center in cooperation with the noted American architect, Wallace K. Harrison, L.H.D. '50, whom the Dartmouth Trustees have retained to prepare the definitive plans. Mr. Harrison, of the New York firm of Harrison and Abramovitz, is world renowned for his work on Rockefeller Center and the United Nations buildings in New York City. It is expected that the definitive plans will be ready for Trustee consideration at the October meeting of the Board. No estimate of the cost of the project can be made until plans are completed and approved. Approximately $2,000,000 is now available for construction of the Center, but considerably more will be needed and plans for completing the financing will be announced at a later date.
The site of the Hopkins Center, to be named for President Emeritus Ernest Martin Hopkins, is the corner of Wheelock and College Streets where Bissell Hall now stands. The Center will face the College green, adjoining the Hanover Inn, and will extend south toward Lebanon Street. Its general design, of contemporary character, will emphasize spaciousness in both interior and exterior treatment.
Its location at the southeast corner of the campus will be ideal for the social purposes of the Center. The new building will provide facilities where students, women guests, faculty, alumni and parents can gather in large or small groups on special occasions or casually in the daily life of the campus. A key feature of the Center will be a large, second-floor social area looking out over the campus, with a sweeping view of Baker Library and Dartmouth Row. There will also be refreshment, dancing and dining facilities to supplement those of the Hanover Inn for student, faculty and alumni use.
What attracted wide attention when the College announced its Hopkins Center plans was not these social facilities, however, but the idea of surrounding them with the stimulating atmosphere of a great variety of the creative arts, to be enjoyed by students as participants or as viewers or "sidewalk superintendents."
The principal features of the Center on the instructional and creative side will include:
1. A theatre to seat 450 persons. In keeping with Dartmouth's emphasis upon the drama as one of the pervasive art forms for both teaching and entertainment, this theatre will be at the heart of the Center. It will be equipped for all types of theatrical work as well as multiple uses for other purposes, such as small musical performances and lecture courses during class hours.
2. Galleries, studios, and workshops for the creative arts of painting, sculpture, print making, music, woodworking, the craft arts, and the theatre. These facilities will be related physically to each other so as to emphasize the inter relatedness of the arts and to encourage campus-wide participation in both "the doing and the viewing" of these arts. Arrangements throughout the theatre, the studios, and the workshops will induce persons using the Center primarily for other purposes to observe the work being done in the different art fields.
3. An auditorium for 900 persons. This will be primarily for instructional purposes and will provide large, first-rate facilities for lecture and visual presentations. In addition to class use, this auditorium will be available for motion pictures, big-screen television, certain types of theatrical and musical events, public lectures, and other meetings where a hall of its size is needed.
4. An outdoor terrace and landscaped court for exhibition and recreation purposes.
The general concept of a combined social and creative arts center was developed from preliminary studies made during the past year by an Advisory Committee on Plant Planning, under the chairmanship of Prof. John P. Amsden '20, and by Nelson W. Aldrich of Boston, consulting architect of the College. The Amsden Committee recommended against placing a large auditorium on the Hopkins Center site, as previously planned, and proposed instead that the site be used for a creative arts center.
In working out final plans with Mr. Harrison, the architect, a committee of ten will serve under Mr. Rockefeller as chairman. These members are Prof. Warner Bentley, graduate manager of the Council on Student Organizations; Victor G. Borella '30, chairman of the Hanover Inn Board of Overseers; Arthur H. Kiendl Jr. '44, Associate Dean of the College; Prof. Churchill P. Lathrop of the Art Department; John F. Meek '33, Vice President and Treasurer of the College; Prof. Donald H. Morrison, Provost of the College; Richard W. Olmsted '32, business manager for plant and operations; Mrs. John R. Potter ('38), daughter of President Emeritus Hopkins; and Paul Sample '20, Dartmouth's artist in residence. Thomas E. O'Connell '50, executive assistant to President Dickey, is secretary of the committee.
