New building breaks ground

Architect and others offer thoughts on Lewis Center

There was something not so surprising about the 20th minute of delay at the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies groundbreaking ceremony. Nor the 30th.

The shovels wielded by dignitaries broke ground over a year and an hour behind schedule Friday, but they did it with the savvy of a queen cutting her cake.

The ceremony began with College president Nancy Dye welcoming over 250 people gathered on the lawn of Harkness Bowl to the ceremony and thanking those who helped make the building possible. "Generation after generation of students find their way here to change the world for the better," she said.

The generations of which she spoke were not surprisingly the theme of the event. Sustainability was the key word and the architect William McDonough and Company are champions of sustainable architecture. "His building embodies the best principles and practices of sustainable architecture and was designed also to educate all of us who are citizens of Lorain County and Northern Ohio," Dye said.

Dye's welcome was followed by Trustee chairman William Perlik. Perlik brought his own dirt to the groundbreaking, unable to wait to use his shovel.

Holding his plastic bag of soil, Perlik began: "What is in this bag? One might answer, 'a mess of dirt' but that is a dry answer."

"What is the essence of the answer 'a mess of dirt'? It is flat, prosaic and utterly uninteresting."

Perlik continued in this vein through his speech.

"'A patch of ground?' That answer would be definitive and connecting, connecting us to time before settlement," he said.

"But the answer 'a piece of our earth' connects us to the millions of years that precede and follow. We and our descendants share its fate," Perlik said.

Perlik's speech was followed by the architect's eloquent regaling of his view of architecture and its role in the preservation of a healthy environment.

"I am a designer," he said. "When all you have is a hammer, everything you see looks like a nail."

McDonough then went on to remind the audience of the horrors of the environmental crisis. "Did we intend for this to happen?" he asked. "Did we plan to live in terror?"

At that moment, the men's cross country team ran by, bearing all for the spectators of dirt.

After the ensuing laughter, McDonough had trouble getting back on track. "I think I'll shift gears now," he said.

Professor of Environmental Studies David Orr followed. "Have they gone? I want your full and undivided attention," he said.

Orr spoke about the significance of the building and how it should be a precedent for others. "We know that this building is a means to a larger end of improving how creatively we think," Orr said.

The final speaker was Adam Lewis, the major benefactor for the building. Lewis was admittedly uncomfortable in the limelight of the ceremony. "I'd rather be digging than being a dignitary," he said quietly. But Lewis won over the audience, perhaps because his speech was the shortest of the event.

Lewis met Orr through a mutual environmental project, and Lewis liked Orr's work. Lewis seized the opportunity to help Orr in the conceptualized Environmental Studies Center.

"It is a pleasure to give this center to Oberlin and the future of students who will go here," he said.

With this, the five speakers each took up the shiny silver shovels leaning behind them and scooped up the pre-tilled earth.

Dirt diggers: Trustee chairman William Perlik and Lewis Center architect William McDonough wait to speak at the groundbreaking ceremony. (photo by Susanna Henighan)