2 New Buildings To Replace Education Russian Centers

At least one of the School of Education's houses and the building containing the Russian Research Center will be torn down to permit construction of the proposed Applied Science laboratory and the General Education lecture hall, it was learned yesterday. At the same time, further plans for the physical plant of the new laboratory were told.

The cost of the new laboratory will be "on the order of magnitude of $1,000,000," according to Gordon M. Fair, chairman of the Division of Engineering. The building will be strictly a large laboratory, with facilities for both the Department of Engineering and the Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics, both of which are under the Division of Engineering.

A large part of the money for the science building will come from interest on the Gordon McKay $16,000,000 gift, which is considered "departmental surplus." The principal of the McKay money cannot be used for construction.

The Russian Research Center and Walker House of the Faculty of Education will definitely be displaced by the GE. building. The Administration is currently discussing new locations for the two. It is believed that the laboratory will oust only University-owned private dwellings on Oxford Street.

The two buildings are more or less a joint project; both will be designed by the Boston firm of Coolidge, Sheepley, Bullfinich, and Abbott, planners of Lamont Library. Provost Buck stated yesterday that the proposed G.E. revolving stage room--which might be a natural showplace--was never intended as a theatre. In any case, the National Production Authority last month prohibited the erection of any new building with intent for "amusement, recreation, or entertainment purposes."

Final plans should be ready by mid-year and construction will take about one year, it is understood at present. Building regulations and material shortages, however, could delay the work.

The laboratory will be far more functional than modern. Comprising two stories and a basement, its three floors will be completely open and flexible--with partitioning put in and torn out as changes warrant, and with all necessary utilities--in order to keep up with the rapidly changing necessities of scientific study