University of Virginia Library

University Blueprints Athletic Expansion

Handball Courts, Pool
In U-Hall Addition

By Hugh Antrim
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

One of the more exciting things
to happen for the future of Cavalier
athletics is the proposed expansion
to University Hall. The new
construction is to include two
regulation handball courts, two
regulation squash courts, six
instructional courts, and an eight
lane, Olympic sized swimming pool.

Perhaps the most crucial feature
of the addition to University Hall is
the swimming pool. Anyone who
has ventured in the past to the
ancient sanatorium in the basement
of Memorial Gymnasium knows
just how badly the school and the
swimming program need such an
improvement. The pool is the most
crucial, however, because the great
cost of the project may limit the
design and expanse of the new
pool.

Working in association with
Baskerville & Sons of Richmond,
the firm of Anderson, Beckwith,
and Haibel of Boston has been
designated to handle the
architectural tasks involved. Any
thought of actual construction is
somewhat premature, however,
because the preliminary drawings
will be two months more in
coming.

The expense and the way in
which the University will finance
the matter is a bit complex. The
initial estimate of the proposed
addition carries a $1.3 million price
tag. The Office of Education has
presented the school with a
$330,000 grant. But as with most give-away programs, there are
stipulations. The federal
government will only pay for space
that is to be used for educational
purposes — thus it will pay for the
six instructional courts for handball
and squash.

The Office of Education's
generous check for $330,000 will
indeed bolster the physical
education program, but the
remaining $968,000 will have to
come from sources other than
federal outlays. The most feasible
method of raising the additional
money appears to be through the
patronage of the state bond issue.

The University has taken into
consideration the effect that
coeducation will have on the new
athletic plant Facilities for both
men's and women's lockers have
been included the men having been
given more space on a 20-1 ratio.

The time schedule for the
proposed addition to University
Hall has been set, but such a
schedule is at this time very flexible
in view of the huge expense and
complexity of the project. The
preliminary drawings are
forthcoming in two months, and
perhaps within four months the
working drawings will be
completed.

At this point a professional
estimate will be conducted as to the
cost. After the University has this
figure, development drawings will
be made if any adjustment in the
design must be made as a result of
the newly estimated budget, Once
the adjusted drawings have been
completed, bids for the actual
construction will be entertained. If
the bids are within the budget
established from the professional
estimate, the construction can
commence according to the
developmental designs

But if the bids received exceed
the allowed budget, a critical
revision of the plans will be called
for. If the deficit introduced by this

new figure is not too great, it is
probable that the athletic
department will attempt to raise the
additional funds. If the new
estimate is way over the allowance,
some adjustment must be made.

Because the instructional courts
and other areas set aside for
physical education are covered by
the federal grant, any such
adjustment in design will not come
from this feature of the expansion.
It is the Olympic sized pool that
will suffer if the bids are too much
higher than the estimate. The new
swimming pool is in no way to be
financed by public funds. The
danger that the proposed eight lane
pool will be cut in stature to seven
or six lanes caused Mr. Waller Hunt,
an architect in the Planning
Department to remark that the new
sanatorium might end up as a
"plastic sized Sears pool." But such
a predicament could only be
provoked by unduly high bidding.

The physical construction of the
new facility adjunct to University
Hall is still some ten to 12 months
in the future,