Tyler Hall has reopened its doors after three years of renovations, but construction continues as the fine arts building is the first in Oswego State history to continue phase II of the project without vacancy.

“I think there is a lot more potential in this building for people to come and enjoy it,” Associate Vice President of Facilities Services Mitch Fields said.

The completed $22.2 million phase includes a lobby lounge area, a few finished classrooms, a new art gallery with movable walls, the Waterman Theatre with handicap accessibility, up-to-date bathrooms and, as of Sept. 15, an instrumental rehearsal room with built-in acoustics and a recording studio.

With the help of a state capital appropriation of $18 million last spring, the project was extended to include the construction plans of phase II.

With the hopes of re-opening the building last January, Fields admitted to being behind schedule for phase I, but now they are about 18 months ahead of schedule for phase II, which would have held the project off until about 2022.

According to Fields, the projected date for the fully completed project is 2020, at a total cost of $27 million.

The reason facilities decided to open now, even though the building wasn’t completed, is because if they waited, current students would not be able to benefit from any renovations.

“It is a better strategy to implement and move forward as much as we can with the money we have and the year we have it so that our students actually get to benefit,” Fields said. “Everyone deserves a good experience when they are here so we are trying to get the most up-to-date facilities to them as fast as we can.”

When it came to design, Facilities Services wanted to expose the rest of the campus to the arts by removing some of the wall that was around the building, adding tall windows to the ground level and showcasing more of the students’ art rather than the building itself.

“We were trying to give art that was sort of inspiration but at the same time we didn’t want the architecture to overpower the students’ work,” Fields said. “I think there is a careful balance here. With some other buildings the architecture is very powerful and you would lose the student work, but here I think in this building you can put up student work and it would stand on its own and be the center of attention”

On the second floor there are plans to put in seats attached to the wall that students can pull down and sit in while waiting for a professor. The bare white walls allow students to showcase their our canvases.

The main floor contains a lounge area with a lot of open space, as well as a coat room and a ticket booth for public events.

On the lower level, the instrumental rehearsal room displays an architectural trust that helps with acoustics, which is tuned by a recording studio parallel to the open space.

Along with the other renovations, the Waterman Theatre remained the same size, although its capacity decreased in order to accommodate wheelchair accessibility.

After phase II, there will be a completed wood shop area, an instructional area for music and the back of the stage. There will also be studios for graphic design, art and sculpture.

Art Department Chair Cynthia Clabough said she recognizes the renovation of Tyler Hall is an ambitious project and although there has been a lot done, there is still a lot more to go.

“It seems like there is a lot of pressure to get it up, open and fully renovated, but I think what is being done is important and it’s needed,” Clabough said.

As construction continues, Fields assures students that workers will work hours that students are not in the building as much as possible.

“We are going to do the best we can,” Fields said. “If it seems like we are impacting peoples’ experience, then we will dial it back and that will simply just push the [project’s] timeframe out.”

Within the first week of classes, the construction was hard not to notice, according to Clabough.

Students would laugh in class when they heard beautiful classical music one second and jackhammers the next, Claybough said.

Overall, the minor inconveniences are bearable even for falcuty.

“If [faculty] can see the light at the end of the tunnel then they are fine with living with it,” Claybough said. “It is an old building and things need to be done.”

The last time junior Kaitlyn Alexander remembers seeing Tyler Hall was at the admission open house when she was applying to Oswego State.

“I love it,” Alexander said. “I love the front entrance part. It looks great compared to when I went here for open house and it was dark and gloomy, but now it seems like a place that people can actually create and think creatively.”

Senior Austin Smith disagrees and said he is disappointed with the Tyler Hall’s current status.

“The outside is the same as it has always been and the inside is good for about 20 seconds of walking into the building,” Smith said. “It is definitely clean and polished but all the other wings are the same. It is like they just put makeup on an ugly person. I thought it was going to be done. I had it when I was in my freshman year and it was at its worst and now, finishing up senior year, I am barely going to get to use it.”

Andrew Kyle, an alumnus returning to see friends, saw the new building and is pleased with the layout.

“I really like the design,” Kyle said. “It feels modern. I really like the lobby area. It is nice for traffic and it is a good hangout spot that we didn’t have before”

According to Clabough, the architects have brought in the faculty to contribute to the design and function of the building that they teach in. They made reccomendations concerning lighting, ventilation and the size of the teaching spaces.

“[The environment] makes a difference to how you can draw,” Clabough said. “It allows you to improve your perspective so there is more you can do because of that space, as a student.”

Clabough looks at the unfinished renovated building as an engaging experience for students.

“[Students] are seeing it, faculty are talking about it, students can give us feedback about what they like, what they don’t like, so they are informing the design as a work in progress,” Clabough said. “So they are getting real world experience directly. It is a wonderful opportunity for our students. These are designers, image makers and they are seeing things from literally the inside out.”