Construction of a state-of-the-art recycling facility for Vermont’s Middlebury College has presented a unique design challenge for Breadloaf Corporation of Middlebury, VT, as the building must resemble the farm buildings that border this rural campus.

“We want it to look like the last farm before you see the campus,” Mac McLaughlin, owner of Breadloaf Corporation, said. “As you drive onto the campus from the western edge, the building should blend with the surrounding open farmland.”

The facility will house equipment to handle all the recycling needs for this campus of 2,200 students, and will be designed to handle anticipated future needs. It will be designed with as many recycled materials as possible. “Middlebury College has been a leader among college campuses in being ’green,’ and providing a means for recycling all of its materials,” McLaughlin said. “They have developed quite a reputation.”

Groundbreaking for the $2.5-million project is to take place in April, with completion by fall.

The recycling facility is one of many construction projects included in the master plan for Middlebury College.

Plans call for redeveloping the campus into a series of decentralized residential areas known as commons. The campus will be divided into five groups of commons (dormitories with their own dining areas), all connected by greens, terraces and walking paths. Academic buildings are interspersed among the commons, making the campus very pedestrian friendly.

Barr & Barr Construction Co. of Middlebury is currently doing excavation work for the first of the five commons to be developed over the next 10 years. Foundation work is ongoing, while construction will begin on Ross Commons in spring with completion expected by spring of 2002, according to Mark McElroy, project manager at Barr & Barr. The 65,000-sq.-ft. building will house some 90 students.

“Middlebury College has very ambitious plans,” McElroy said of the $16-million project. “Ross Commons is going to be a very beautiful building.”

Work on the college campus is somewhat unique, McElroy said, as construction workers delay work until after 8 a.m. to respect the need for early morning quiet on campus, and maintain a very professional attitude among the students. “When you work on a college campus, it’s as if you’re invited into someone’s home,” he said.

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