Core Campus Project

New meditation garden and labyrinth offer Patriots a place for reflection

Colleen Rich — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 17:16:27 +0000

New meditation garden and labyrinth offer Patriots a place for reflection Colleen Rich Wed, 03/23/2022 - 13:16

The garden and labyrinth are meant to provide the Mason community a peaceful place for contemplation and relaxation in the heart of the Core Campus Project. Photo courtesy of Cathy Pinskey/Mason Facilities

Just in time for spring, George Mason University’s new meditation garden and labyrinth are now open to the community. The garden and the labyrinth are visual artifacts signaling Mason’s commitment to the well-being of its community. They can be found between Horizon Hall and the renovated Harris Theatre, adjacent to the new mini amphitheater that sits on the former site of Robinson Hall.

The garden and labyrinth are meant to provide the Mason community a peaceful place for contemplation and relaxation in the heart of the Core Campus Project. According to Nance Lucas, executive director and chief well-being officer of the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, the garden connects to the university-wide goal of Mason evolving as a model well-being university.

“We want well-being to be in the DNA of this institution, and this garden is symbolic of it," Lucas said. "It also supports the research on being in nature and meditation.”

The garden—which is filled with purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, creeping phlox, and purple aster flowers—allows individuals to experience a calming atmosphere while studying, walking, or relaxing.

Those who choose to walk through the labyrinth will notice a slight rise in the path. Stephanie Wolfgang, the project’s senior landscape architect from Perkins & Will, said that’s intentional, so people feel as though they are “building toward a destination.” The center of the labyrinth is marked with a sandstone boulder surrounded by a ring of linden trees. Similar to the garden, the space is configured for sitting and contemplation.

Lauren Long, executive director of Student Involvement, encouraged the community to visit the new space. “[It is] a place of deep contemplation and a place to reflect and renew after such a long time being isolated from others,” Long said.

“Individuals can sit on the steps, take a stroll through the garden, and enjoy being outside, relaxing and spending time alone or with others,” she added.

Damian Cristodero contributed to this story.

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Campus News

Wilkins Plaza

Core Campus Project

Center for the Advancement of Well-Being

Spirit Fall 22

Harris Theatre resumes its rightful place at the heart of arts at Mason

Colleen Rich — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 17:31:38 +0000

Harris Theatre resumes its rightful place at the heart of arts at Mason Colleen Rich Tue, 03/01/2022 - 12:31

After 18 months of renovations, Harris Theatre on George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus is once again open for performances.

“While most of the impact of the improvements will be felt by the students, faculty and staff of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the entire Mason community now has the opportunity to experience tomorrow’s stars before they become famous in a modernized, intimate space,” said Dan Hobson, production manager for the College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA).

The venue's busy spring schedule includes the Mason Players performance of “Everybody” on March 31-April 2, the School of Dance's Spring New Dances on April 15-16, and Mason Opera's presentation of “La Cenerentola” on April 29-May 1.

The Harris Theatre renovation features an expanded lobby, an updated ticket office, a new entrance near the walking meditation garden, and a marquee to announce upcoming performances. Photo by Shelby Burgess/Strategic Communications

“Harris is right at the heart of arts at Mason, and it’s great to have it back,” said CVPA Dean Rick Davis.

Opened in 1980 and named for the late Mason benefactor Holbert L. Harris, the proscenium theater seats 460 and is one of the most-used spaces on campus. The renovation features an expanded lobby, an updated ticket office, a new entrance near the walking meditation garden, and a marquee to announce upcoming performances.

Another plus: Dedicated restrooms. Previously patrons and performers had to exit the theater and go down the hall and into the former Robinson Hall B to use the restroom. This is no longer the case. The renovation includes both a performers’ restroom and designated restrooms for patrons.

The theatre is named for the late Mason benefactor Holbert L. Harris. Photo by Shelby Burgess/Strategic Communications

The renovation also includes new air handling systems, new stage equipment and more storage, and a new stage-level dressing room. Prior to the renovation, the only dressing rooms available to performers were one floor down and under the stage. Those old dressing rooms have also been upgraded with new individual stations and chairs and will still be used.

“The house lighting is now energy efficient, and the stage lighting has been upgraded to provide consistency during performances,” said Hobson.

“It is CVPA’s busiest venue for student performances, in addition to hosting visiting lectures, panel discussions and screenings,” said Julie Thompson, executive director for Mason's Center for the Arts. “The theater’s location on Wilkins Plaza and next to Horizon Hall is a newly prominent spot on campus.”

“Theaters, like any sort of machine, have a maintenance and a lifespan schedule,” said Davis. “Harris Theatre was like that old car in the driveway you know is still running—it still gets you to the grocery store, but it didn’t get very good mileage and needed to go to the shop a lot.”

He added: “Every day I take a walk down that pathway and go between Horizon Hall and Harris Theatre and just marvel at what used to be and what is now. It’s just beautiful.”

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Campus News

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

Core Campus Project

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The Core Campus Project is done ... almost

Damian Cristodero — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 19:53:09 +0000

The Core Campus Project is done ... almost Damian Cristodero Tue, 12/14/2021 - 14:53

The meditation labyrinth (center) is one of the finishing touches to the Core Campus Project, which over three-plus years of construction has remade the center of the Fairfax Campus. Photo by Cathy Pinskey/Facilities.

The Core Campus Project, which for the past three-plus years has reshaped and remade the center of George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus, will be largely finished by the time faculty and staff return from winter break.

The final steps to be done by Jan. 3 include completion of the meditation labyrinth and a new dining patio outside the side entrance to SUB I. Even the “Woman in Hammock” statue that used to stand next to the demolished Robinson A building will again be displayed.

All that will remain after that, said Cathy Pinskey, program director at Mason Facilities, is the furniture move-in at the refurbished Harris Theatre. That should be accomplished so faculty and staff can access the building by Jan. 12. Classes are set to begin there on Jan. 24.

“It’s very rewarding, I have to say,” Pinskey said of the project’s completion. “It’s just been a great project and a great addition to the center of campus. It really transformed everything. I’m very happy we’re crossing this threshold.”

Anchoring the project, which broke ground in the summer of 2018 after two and a half years of planning and design, is Horizon Hall, a six-floor, 218,000-square-foot academic center that replaced the antiquated Robinson A and B buildings.

Wilkins Plaza now extends from Southside to the Mason Pond Parking Deck and includes the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial.

There is a new amphitheater with seating, tables, chairs, event power sources and accessible Wi-Fi, and extensive green space with dozens of trees replacing the trees that were taken out to make room for the expanded plaza. Some of those trees were repurposed to create the wood benches in Horizon Hall.

Harris Theatre will seem like a different space after a complete overhaul that added a new lobby, bathrooms, ticket office, and stage floor. There is a new sprinkler system, HVAC system, house lights and carpeting, new accessible dressing rooms, expanded backstage storage and refreshed dressing rooms on the lower level.

“The success of the Core Campus Project had a lot to do with the architects, the engineers and the contractor,” Pinskey added. “Particularly, with all the challenges: the length of the project, construction fatigue and the pandemic.”

On the project from the beginning was the design firm of Perkins&Will (Stephanie Wolfgang and Paul Harney, project managers) and the construction firm of Whiting-Turner (Perry Mahle and Jeff Downs, project managers).

The Mason project inspectors were Greg Rahimzadeh and Mirwais Safi.

“It’s really transformative,” Wolfgang said of the project. “It really changed the entire atmosphere in the center of campus. It really helps create that student-life corridor that wasn’t there before.”

Asked how she felt with the project coming to an end, Wolfgang said, “I just wish that I’ll have another project filled with as much meaning as we were able to embed in this one. Will I be able to have clients who were as engaged, students who were as engaged, faculty who were as engaged? I hope so.

“It’s a huge point of pride and a sense of accomplishment,” she added. “I hope others enjoy the space as much as I do seeing it complete.

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Core Campus Project

Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial

Campus News

Another section of the Core Campus Project set to open

Melanie Balog — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 18:48:26 +0000

Another section of the Core Campus Project set to open Melanie Balog Wed, 10/27/2021 - 14:48

A large area of green space anchored by a new amphitheater is scheduled to open this week in the center of George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus.

The removal of fencing along a good portion of the north side of Wilkins Plaza will provide access to the space, which marks another major milestone in the Core Campus Project.

“I am thrilled,” said Cathy Pinskey, program director at Mason Facilities. “Having the amphitheater is a big deal as an expanded area for student engagement in the center of campus, which we really haven’t had before.”

The amphitheater will have wall seating, tables, chairs, event power sources and accessible Wi-Fi.

The green space will include some of the 35 overcup oak trees that are being planted to replace the trees that were taken out to make room for the expanded plaza. The trees are in grassy areas, as opposed to being surrounded by concrete, as were the trees there previously.

Some of those trees were repurposed to create the wood benches in Horizon Hall.

“As they mature they won’t get root-bound, which is what happened to the trees before,” Pinskey said. “We’re improving what is there to make them last longer.”

Completion of the Core Campus Project is expected by the Spring 2022 semester, when work on Harris Theatre, a meditation labyrinth, and a dining patio next to SUB I are finished.

The Core Campus Project, which includes Horizon Hall, the redesigned Wilkins Plaza and the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial, has already changed the energy in the center of the campus, Pinskey said.

“You walk around the center part of the campus and it’s always populated by students, faculty and staff, sitting at the tables and on the benches, or sitting on the wall of the fountain,” she said. “It really has provided a whole new outdoor feature that didn’t exist before in a way that it does today.”

A view of the amphitheatre on the north side of Wilkins Plaza. Photo by Cathy Pinskey

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Core Campus Project

Campus News

Construction

Campus Improvements (Construction)

Redesigned Wilkins Plaza on Fairfax Campus is open

Colleen Rich — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 20:18:06 +0000

Redesigned Wilkins Plaza on Fairfax Campus is open Colleen Rich Mon, 08/16/2021 - 16:18

The reimagined Wilkins Plaza is open after two-plus years of construction.

It includes a boulevard-like east-west walkway that extends from the Mason Pond Parking Deck to Southside.

The plaza, named for the late Roger Wilkins, the famed civil rights leader, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former Robinson Professor of History and American Culture at Mason, is part of the Core Campus Project that has remade the central Fairfax Campus.

It is anchored by the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial, which includes the intertwined narratives of two of George Mason IV’s slaves, the iconic George Mason statue, and the new Wilkins Fountain.

At the base of the Mason statue are four of Mason’s quotes that help explain his important and complex role in American history as the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and a slaveholder.

“Considered together, the entire plaza creates an axis of dialogue, with the Mason statue representing the traditional voice, the memorial panels representing the hidden voices, and the painted walls represent the voices of student organizations,” said Cathy Pinskey, program director at Mason Facilities. “To me that’s the most exciting part of it. It was always going to be a great plaza, but the addition of the memorial and the fountain make it uniquely Mason.”

The plaza was designed by landscape architects Perkins&Will in association with a diverse team of Mason faculty, staff and students. Perkins&Will also designed the new Horizon Hall. Whiting-Turner is handling the Core Campus Project construction.

There is still more work to be done on the Core Campus Project, with the green space adjacent to Horizon Hall and the plaza scheduled to open in late fall, and the redesigned Harris Theatre scheduled to open for the Spring 2022 semester, Pinskey said.

But the plaza is something special, said Stephanie Wolfgang, a senior landscape architect at Perkins&Will and the lead designer for the plaza project.

“Shedding light on the stories of those who have been underrepresented throughout history is a goal of Perkins&Will,” Wolfgang said. “When a narrative of equity and inclusion is so integral to our design and supported by our client’s values, it’s professionally rewarding.”

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Campus News

Core Campus Project

Wilkins Plaza

Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial

George Mason statue returns to Wilkins Plaza

Colleen Rich — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 19:40:11 +0000

George Mason statue returns to Wilkins Plaza Colleen Rich Thu, 06/24/2021 - 15:40

Fifty-three weeks after it was moved to Holton Plaza to make way for construction related to the Core Campus Project, the iconic George Mason statue was returned to its home on George Mason University’s Wilkins Plaza.

Check out a video of the move.

The statue, located on the plaza between the Johnson Center and the deLaski Performing Arts Building, will be part of the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial that is expected to be installed by the week of July 19.

The memorial, designed by landscape architects Perkins & Will, in association with a diverse team of Mason faculty, staff and students, intertwines the narratives of two of George Mason IV’s slaves: Penny, a 10-year-old girl, and James, Mason’s personal manservant.

“The replacement of the statue marks another significant milestone in the Core Campus Project,” Cathy Pinskey, program director at Mason Facilities, said of the project that is transforming the center of the Fairfax Campus. “With the installation of the memorial, it won’t be long until the entire reimagining of Wilkins Plaza is complete.”

The moving of the bronze Mason statue by the Baltimore firm of North American Millwright was fairly straightforward.

After it was loosened from its base, the statue was picked up by a forklift, strapped onto the back of a flatbed truck and shuttled from Holton Plaza to Wilkins Plaza.

There it was placed on a newly constructed base that includes some of Mason’s most famous writings, which explain his important and complex role in American history, as author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and a slaveholder.

The statue’s next appointment is for a thorough cleaning and application of a protective wax finish, Pinskey said.

As for the constructed base upon which the Mason statue sat at Holton Plaza, Pinskey said the next occupant is to be determined.

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Campus News

George Mason statue

Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial

Core Campus Project

Wilkins Plaza to open to pedestrians

Colleen Rich — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 15:20:17 +0000

Wilkins Plaza to open to pedestrians Colleen Rich Thu, 04/29/2021 - 11:20

Photo by Shelby Burgess/Strategic Communications

It’s not completed by any means, but the west side of Wilkins Plaza is scheduled to open to pedestrian traffic on Monday, May 3, for the first time in a year. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, pedestrians will be able to walk from the Mason Pond Parking Deck, past the newly renovated clock and all the way to Southside without obstruction.

There is still plenty to do, as the plaza is part of the larger Core Campus Project.

The traffic circle between the Mason Pond Parking Deck and Wilkins Plaza will be converted to a new outdoor event area, and construction fencing will be erected there during the week of May 3. An accessible entrance to the deLaski Performing Arts Building will be available on the south side of the building.

There will also be fencing along the north side of the plaza in front of Robinson B, which is being demolished, around the soon-to-be-functioning fountain, and where the memorial to the Enslaved People of George Mason will be constructed.

But the plaza’s reopening marks a notable step in the reimagining of the center of the Fairfax Campus.

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Campus News

Core Campus Project

Construction

Horizon Hall will be open for classes on Jan. 25

Damian Cristodero — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 20:41:17 +0000

Horizon Hall will be open for classes on Jan. 25 Damian Cristodero Thu, 12/17/2020 - 15:41

Ann Ardis, the dean of George Mason University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, is looking forward to getting into the college’s new offices in Horizon Hall. It will be nice, she said, to have many of the college’s departments and interdisciplinary programs in one location rather than spread out over the Fairfax Campus.

But Ardis is also excited about what Horizon Hall will mean for teaching and learning when the building opens four classrooms on Jan. 25, the start of the spring semester.

The active learning classrooms in the first two floors of the building are a “huge” new asset for the university community, Ardis said.

The six-floor, 218,000-square-foot building is the centerpiece of the Core Campus Project that is transforming the center of the Fairfax Campus with a new and expanded Wilkins Plaza (including the memorial to the enslaved people of George Mason), a renovated Harris Theatre, new green space, and an upgrade to the university’s utility infrastructure.

Though there is still plenty of work to be done—the old Robinson Hall B must be torn down to make room for the terraced amphitheater and meditation garden—the opening of Horizon Hall represents a significant milestone, especially considering the challenges from COVID-19.

“As a result of COVID, we’ve had supply chain challenges. We’ve had labor challenges,” said Cathy Pinskey, capital program director in Mason’s Facilities department. “But we really stayed focused on trying to make up the time where we could, and because we opened up lines of communication with people really early, it helped to get to the goal to be open at the end of January.”

When students show up for classes, the only thing remaining to be completed should be some furniture installation to the upper floors.

Classrooms are spacious and can accommodate from 24 to 120 students, though COVID restrictions will limit class sizes to 30% or 40% of capacities, Pinskey said.

All classes are equipped for video collaboration and instruction. The Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX) will also be located in Horizon Hall.

“Horizon Hall’s opening is significant because it successfully showcases our commitment to building classrooms and learning spaces that truly support active, engaged student learning in face-to-face and hybrid modalities,” said Kim Eby, Mason’s associate provost for faculty affairs and development. “This commitment was articulated in our most recent strategic plan and it’s incredible to see this come to fruition.”

“The entire building is designed to enable student engagement and opportunities for student learning and collaboration,” Ardis said. “There will be places for students to work by themselves or in small groups and study spaces where students can engage with faculty.”

She called the building a “game changer.”

“Bringing students to that building, and recruiting students to Mason by walking them through Horizon Hall and through Wilkins Plaza, that’s going to be such a positive,” Ardis said.

On a recent December day, workers were moving furniture and putting the final touches on staircases and rooms. There was the occasional rattle of a circular saw. Pinskey called it controlled chaos.

“I’ll be excited to see people in it, to see people using it. That’s the most rewarding part,” she said of Horizon Hall. “It’s nice to see it coming together. Yeah, it’s exciting.

Inside Horizon Hall, which will be the new home of Mason's College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services.