Construction will be underway in one week to regenerate spaces of student living and learning at DDH--

The aim is to ensure that "the House" will continue to welcome new students and to undergird their learning and leadership. These plans are rooted in a commitment to education for ministry and scholarship that is critically engaged with the suffering and hope of the world. They underscore the conviction that face-to-face community is essential for transformative learning.

There are a lot of books to be packed! Whether they will graduate or return in the fall, all students packed up for the summer. 

This summer, Room 38 will disappear to become part of the grand renewal of the two residential floors. Room 38 was tucked under a dormer on the third floor, across the alley from the practice room in the neighboring church where choirs and dancers rehearsed. For nearly 100 years, the book-lined student room was where languages and texts were studied and papers and dissertations were written. Students will still pursue that learning in twenty-two other student rooms and studies. But now, enlarged all-gender restrooms and energy-efficient air-conditioning are on their way, as are many other transformations.

Old "Steelcase"-like desks are piled in the Common Room on their way to new homes via a salvage furniture store. 

Students have moved out for the summer. The construction crew has moved in. We are grateful for Frank Heitzman, architect; Mark Nussbaum, engineer; and the team at Macon Construction.

Almost apocalyptic. The demolition is underway.

And the view through the old 3G guest room door.

The suspended acoustic tile ceilings come down in the student rooms, adding 3" to the ceiling height. The top of the limestone window surrounds are revealed again. 

Surprise! The ceiling in the third-floor study room is revealed to be 14-feet-high. 

A view from the backyard at DDH this morning. A large crane lifted steel beams to the rooftop. The beams will tie into the building's structural columns and support air-conditioning equipment on the rooftop. This equipment is part of a heat-pump system that will bring air into the second and third floors of DDH.

Many of the student rooms on the second and third floors of DDH surround a peaceful and dramatic atrium. In the reinvention of residential space, the old ceiling tiles have been removed and will be replaced with new drywall and better lighting.

The building, completed in 1928, shows amazing construction and care. Underneath the old dropped acoustical tile ceiling and under another layer of the original fiberboard tiles--is a layer of fire-proof clay tiles. (Fortunately there was no asbestos found anywhere.) Some radiators are temporarily parked in the atrium while the work goes on in each student room.

The expanded third-floor bathroom is framed with new plumbing and ventilation ducts in place. Four private showers are on this floor, thanks to the extra room where room 38 had been.

DDH is located on the busy throughway of 57th Street, which had to be closed for a couple of hours on July 24 as a crane lifted four condensers, each eight feet tall, onto the roof to faciliate the air conditioning system. 

Meanwhile, the new 14-foot ceiling has been added to the third floor study room. 

Mechanical engineering wizard Mark Nussbaum checks out the new condensers on the roof.

DDH's renovation is in part a response to climate change in recent years. A delivery of more than two dozen "mini splits," the air conditioning units that will be installed in each student and guest room, arrived at the front door last week. A handsome new skylight with light and heat filtering glass help with  increased intensities of rainfall and heat now occurring in the Chicago area.

Emptying the student rooms revealed how soiled the limestone window surrounds were, so masons have been engaged to clean and repoint the stonework. They have applied cleaners, scrubbed, then rinsed with cold water, leaving behind a lovely wet, clean, stone smell each afternoon.  

Architect Frank Heitzman selected lively accents for the renewed spaces. The painters provided samples. Meanwhile the plasterers have been working on the new ceilings and soffits; they are patching and repairing the original plaster walls.

12" ceramic tiles are being installed in a checkerboard pattern in the two student bathrooms. A small textured tile in a coordinating color has already been laid in the shower pans. 

Views of transformation abound around the House. Masonry cleaning has included the hearths in the two guestrooms - the first photo is a particularly grimy "before," including construction dust not usually part of a guestroom experience - but shows off the "after" as particularly beautiful. Doors and doorframes are being refinished as well! 

Mini-split unit air conditioners will be mounted in all residential rooms and the atrium by the end of this week. The coolant and wiring runs through the closets and connects to the condensers on the roof. As the climate becomes more hot and humid, they are an eco-conscious way to keep DDH livable through many summers to come. 

Painters have been at work. Each student room will be painted in Benjamin Moore's "Ancient Oak." The Atrium will be a terracotta pink-red called "Wild Flower." 

A newly refinished door and brass push panel along the third floor stairwell - the old wood is glowing in many places in the House, perhaps looking much as it did the day it was first installed.

There are new ceiling fans with wood blades to match the dark wood of the room doors and trim, as well as room furniture. In this photo, you can also see the cleaned limestone masonry (which used to be almost black!), refinished door, and the former cork floor covered with a base where the new flooring ("Marmoleum") will be set. 

Toto toilets with bidet sprayer controls have been installed in the second and third floor stalls. This toilet style reduces paper use and has many fans as it grows in popularity around the world. 

Bathroom counters have sink basins built into them, with bronze finish faucets and plenty of storage beneath. Mirrors and lighting still to come.

The new showers each have attached changing rooms, as well as blue ceilings, industrial style light fixtures, and bronze finish spigots and handles. 

Globe light fixtures with adjustable light levels have been installed in the atrium. Note the sage green accent under the balconies and the newly refinished wood banisters. 

A sunlit student room where the new "Marmoleum" flooring is just being installed. 

Architect Frank Heitzman, a team from Macon Construction, and Bruce Gumm walk through the project to prepare the punch list. They are in the now dramatic third-floor room above the Hermitage and archway.

Each student room has been equipped with a new sit/stand desk, adjustable chair, and rolling desk storage. 

New room-darkening roller blinds and some new chests of drawers finish out the furnishings for student rooms.

First-year MDiv and MA students move ahead of Orientation Week.

Still working through the punch list with one especially large item. One of the condensers proved to have been damaged in delivery, so the crane was back to replace it. This time, new students were able to see the work.

The student community celebrated the re-habitation of the House with a ribbon cutting and the first Monday dinner of the year. Colton Lott preached for the opening chapel service.

New third-floor restrooms. Showers to the left, two toilet rooms are behind the camera. Cubbies for student supplies in the middle. The second-floor restroom is primarily a laundry room with three stacked, energy-efficient, washer-dryers, two toilet rooms, and one shower.

The refurbished guestrooms are ready for students' families, Monday dinner speakers, prospective students, alums, and friends.

The atrium, now festooned for the holidays!