“Uncommons,” the temporary dining hall located in the Smith Hockey Rink, will welcome students back at the beginning of Winter Term with a broader selection of food and new equipment. The Smith Hockey Rink is currently being transformed from an unused hockey rink into a fully functional dining facility to serve as the interim eating location during the Commons renovations. The rink will also be equipped with new heating, electrical and lighting systems. The official name of the renovated rink was chosen in a survey sent to all students from the Dean of Students Office on October 23. Out of the 981 student voters, “Uncommons” won with 29.4% of the votes and a 20-point lead. Dean of Students Marlys Edwards said that she will use the name “Uncommons” for the dining facility because it was selected by the students and approved by the Senior Administrative Council, the committee of top-level school administrators. “Before it went out for a vote, I made sure that the Senior Administrative Council was okay with the names we had put on the ballot,” said Edwards. The Consigli Construction Company, which Andover has employed for several construction jobs since 1996, is undertaking the Uncommons project. Schwartz/Silver Architects, responsible for the design of the renovated Commons, also created the architectural design for Uncommons. Although many students worry that Uncommons will not have any of the amenities that Commons currently has, the Office of Physical Plant (OPP) and the food service team at Andover have strived to add as many new features to the rink as possible. Michael Giampa, Commons Operations Manager said, “Where we are now in Commons, the food is prepared in the cellar and it is shipped on dumbwaiters up to the dining floors. In the new Uncommons, the servery and the kitchen are right next to each other.” According to Giampa, this layout is “light-years better” than the current set-up in Commons. Michael Williams, Director of Facilities said, “The real advantage to this is that the [food] doesn’t have to be carried up by dumbwaiters and it doesn’t need to be pre-cooked as long in advance. The food comes out of the kitchen fresher and straight to the serving areas. It can be cooked fresh and brought out instead of sitting in pans waiting to come up on the dumbwaiter assembly.” Paul Robarge, Senior Food Service Director, said, “Currently we are creating a new and improved menu design to fit this new location, all the while making sure we are utilizing most of the popular items. All the products made at Uncommons will be prepared behind the scenes but very close to the service areas. This will absolutely enhance the overall quality of items served.” Uncommons will also feature a greater selection of food. The stir-fry stations will expand to include more options, including new made-to-order desserts. “We were thinking bananas foster made-to-order and different types of stir-fries. We’re dead-center in the process of creating a menu with a lot of new and exciting things,” said Robarge. The food service team is also looking to carved-to-order roasts for dinner and freshly sliced hot sandwiches for lunch to increase dining choices in Uncommons. They also hope to expand the current organic food selection. Giampa said, “We actually have some new equipment. We’ve got a char-griller that we’re very excited about because we haven’t had that before. Now we’ll be able to chargrill meats, chickens, and vegetables, which will add a nice distinctive flavor to food.” “Currently we are offering a limited amount of organics at the Commons, [but] we are planning on building upon this,” said Robarge. “Every day there’s more and more options coming to us from our corporate offices and there’s more of a push from our students. So we’ve been trying to be more proactive to find out our different options in what is available for organic foods.” In addition, Uncommons will be furnished mainly with new equipment. The serving lines, salad bar and deli bar will all be brand new and “state of the art,” according to Giampa. The only used furniture coming from Commons will be tables and chairs, as well as cooking equipment such as ovens and flat-top grills. The transition from four distinct dining halls in Commons to one large dining area in Uncommons might present difficulties for students and faculty. There will be a reduction in the equipment, possibly from four to three hot food lines. Robarge said, “Back in the [kitchens], there will be a lot less equipment. We need to be a lot more creative and organized because we’re going from an enormous kitchen the length of Commons into a building a quarter of this [Commons’] kitchen. That’s why we’re bringing a lot of equipment to the serving areas—the carved meats, the sandwich bar, paninis, stir-fries and desserts made-to-order. We’re trying to bring a lot of food preparation to the front.” Although the amount of equipment will be reduced, the seating capacity of the dining will remain the same. Since the entire set of tables and chairs will be moved to Uncommons, it will retain the current capacity of Commons at 582 seats. “In the students’ perspective in the beginning, it’s going to be tough,” said Robarge. “What we don’t want is everyone to come and wait in line. We want it to be more of a grazing effect, where people grab their trays and walk around and make their decision about what they want. It is going to be a transition for the students, as well as for us. [The decrease in space] will affect the flow of dining, but I think overall it’s going to improve the quality of the food because it’s going to be a much more controlled atmosphere.” Williams does not anticipate many conflicts regarding the available space for dining because the current layout of Uncommons leaves room for additional food stations. “If we find there’s a very popular entrée or station and it’s getting a lot of congestion, we can still add another table,” said Williams. However, Williams does expect to see a change in social interaction between students when they are all limited to a single dining hall. He said, “I think the social patterns are going to change because it’s one big area. You’re all used to going to Upper Left because that’s where your friends like to gather. [In Uncommons,] your friends will be there but now the kids you didn’t see in Upper Left will also be there. It will be interesting.” Commons was last renovated in 1979 and completed in 1980. During that time, Draper Hall in Abbot Campus served as the interim dining area. “Imagine walking all the way down the hill to Abbot. The advantage to [Uncommons] is that it is relatively close. If you’re walking from Commons to [Uncommons], it’s less than two minutes, so it’s not really much of a change,” said Williams.
