New choir rooms, aesthetically pleasing spaces for group counseling and a converge newsroom for the university’s student media are just a few of the features that will be present in the new Christ Academy building in 2014.

Since February, the Christ Academy renovations, which includes the Counseling Center and the mass communication and music department, has been top priority for the university.

The Board of Regents approved  new plans for the Christ Academy project that saved the university a million dollars.

University President Jesse Rogers said rather than renovating the Counseling Center first, that project is being delayed so the entire project can be done at the same time.

“We got to thinking why in the world we were in such a hurry to tear those buildings down,” Rogers said. “It’s not going to change the date that we start or finish the academic portion. It is just going to be that we do all [construction] at the same time.”

About five years ago, Ron Fischli, dean of the College of Fain Fine Arts, had the idea to move the college.

“What has happen in the Fine Arts Center is that music department is partly sandwiched in here and in Akin,” he said.

Mass communication, the largest program in fine arts, also got crammed into the building.

“So even though the building from the outside looks like it has a lot of space, it doesn’t, especially with the theatre, so I knew there was that need,” Fischli said. “The committment is there to the building and the initital planning has been done.”

Kyle Owen, associate vice president for facilities services, said the project will be delayed for at least two years.

There is a lot of pre-planning when it comes to a major construction project, Owens said.

“In the case of the Christ Academy renovation, it involved the creation of a short-term master plan, which required six months of discussions and meeting relation to planning for the future,” he said.

Once the layout was agreed upon, the architectural firm began their detailed design, Owen said.

“Facilities services coordinates the activities of the architect and using departments to make sure needs are met and the project stays within budget,” he said.

Owen said it was very time consuming and requires much attention to detail during the planning portion to ensure the project runs smoothly.

Christ Academy does not come without problems.

Owen said the building has many issues including not being Americans with Disabilities Act approved with any hardware or restrooms.

The heating, ventilation and air conditioning in the eastern half of the building is circa 1960s and needs to be replaced, Owen said.

“The electrical systems in the eastern half of the building are lifed-out and need to be replaced,” he said. “There are asbestos abatement needs with the floor tile, the interiors have not been updated in over 20 years and need to be renovated.”

Roofs need to be repaired and all windows and doors also need to be replaced.

“The building does not show any significant signs of structural or slab issues, which is a big plus considering its age,” Owen said. “Its location adjacent to the campus is an obvious advantage and warrants developing it. It is significantly less expensive to renovate the existing structure instead of tearing it down and building new.”

Pam Midgett, counseling center director, said she has had positive interactions with the architects in creating the ideal space for their office.

“I have visited other university counseling centers to tour their counseling center facilities and discussed with their directors the spaces they utilize,” Midgett said.

The architects have involved her in every step of their planning, Midgett said.

“The goal is to have a contemporary space where counselors can provide individual and group counseling, career testing, relation and stress management and other services needed by students.”

Midgett said the current location of the Counseling Center, which off Hampstead Street directly behind the Bridwell building, provides a peaceful and confidential setting away from he hustle and bustle of campus.

“We will create that same peaceful and confidential setting in the new location,” she said. “The current location is also decorated in a contemporary fashion with the hopes of appealing to college students. We will bring that style to our new location.”

Midgett said although the current counseling center is old and somewhat inefficient, she is looking forward to having more rooms for group counseling in the new location.

“We also will have some extra space to accommodate graduate students in their training to become counselors,” she said.

The counseling center is looking forward to students having a  newly created space that is aesthetically pleasing, centrally located, conducive to confidentiality, and user friendly, Midgett said.

Fischli said the goal for the fain fine arts portion of Christ Academy is for all programs in fine arts to be respectively housed for the next 20 years.

“[This project] will open up space here and over there as well,” he said. “The up side is that we will mix more. We’ve gotten a lot better at what I call social relations as people from music, theatre and mass communication mingle with each other and the students work together occasionally.”

When Mass Communication Chair Jim Sernoe was approached about moving his department to Christ Academy he said he was glad that they would have more space, which he said the department needs.

In Fain Fine Arts building, the mass communication department only has five rooms that are used for classes: two designated classrooms, a computer lab, the TV-2 studio and a conference room.

“With that, I’m glad we will have better class rooms because we need that, crowding 20 people into a conference room built for 14 for example,” Sernoe said.

One of the designated classrooms, which holds 22 students, has recently had handicap access problems.

Like Midgett, Sernoe said he also feels very involved in the construction planning process for the mass communication department.

“What we are planning is where the gym is now will be divided into a TV studio and a choir rehearsal room for music,” he said.

Fischli said he had also discussed with university president Jesse Rogers about the need for a better space for the campus broadcast station MSU-TV2 – “Campus Watch.”

The gymnasium in Christ Academy is the perfect antidote.

The gym will be split between a rehearsal choir room and the TV studio. The new television studio will have 50 to 75 percent more space, Fischli said.

The department currently has a control room and editing bays, but Sernoe said in the new building there will just be more room for everything.

The mass communication side of Christ Academy will also have a new broadcast lab, storage area for equipment, more office spaces, conference room and the converged newsroom.

“The way media is going these days we need to have a converged newsroom,” Sernoe said. “Reality is people are moving away from saying ‘newspapers’ or ‘TV stations.’ Everyone is just a news producing organization.”

As the news media for the university, the public service is still the inform the university, Sernoe said.

“Regardless of what anyone says about ‘oh, it’s just student media,’ people take it seriously and when something important happens we still have our niche,” he said.

Fischli said this project is very near and dear to his heart and involves himself in the decision making process.

“You don’t wait until somebody comes to discuss this to tell them what you want,” he said. “Be ahead of the game always.”

What is next for the project for Fischli is to identity what spaces will be occupied by what.

“The street side of the building will be occupied by music, while the rear of the building will be mass communication,” he said.

Additional practice rooms, which will help accreditation, class rooms, music studios, lounge area, office space and a music resource room will all be part of the music department.

The chapel, which is attached to the building, Fischli said he hopes can be used as a recital hall for general campus use.

“I’m thinking [of this project] as a complex – the fine arts complex,” he said.