By Jennifer Guertin
The David O. McKay Building and the late Smith Family Living Center share the same construction style. Unlike the latter, which has been reduced to a hole in the ground, the McKay Building has “morphed” into one of the more hi-tech buildings on campus.
About 4,000 faculty, graduates and guests gathered Friday morning, Aug. 15, 2003, after convocation to celebrate the rededication. Thomas S. Monson presided and offered the dedicatory prayer.
“It was quite a crowd,” said Karen Oates, an adviser for elementary and early childhood education. “All the graduates and their families and friends stayed for it. They filled up the Smith Fieldhouse, then led a procession here.”
The dedication included remarks by President Merrill J. Bateman and Thomas S. Monson, as well as a short video about David O. McKay, the ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the one after whom the building was named.
The celebration ended three years of remodeling and construction, during which the building continued to be used.
“It was a hugely cooperative effort on the part of the contractors and the faculty and staff of the building,” said Al Merkley, assistant dean for the school of education. “We couldn”t have done it otherwise. They took this building right down to its skeleton.”
Merkley said living in the construction zone required sacrifice from faculty, staff and students. Faculty frequently had to shuffle or share offices. Some worked from home. Several classes moved to the ROTC building. During the first summer of construction, the building went without air conditioning.
“One of the things those of us who lived through it will always remember was the summer of the swamp coolers,” Merkle said. “It was so hot, and that was all we had. We had those machines running full tilt.”
Oates said she started work the same time the construction began.
“There were definitely some challenges: the hammering, the noise,” she said. “We actually had to evacuate the office several times because of construction smells. Also, the first-floor bathrooms were the very last things done, so for a while we had to go down the hall and upstairs because the stairway here was blocked off. It really wasn”t that bad, though. I”m just amazed they were able to hold classes through the whole thing.”
New features in the building include a student lounge with Internet hookups, improved office and classroom layout and design and electrical and seismic upgrades.
The newly remodeled building also boasts BYU”s first wireless classroom. Students in this classroom are provided with laptops and expected to interact with teachers and each other.
Other wireless networks have since been installed in the McDonald Building, Talmage Building, Tanner Building, J. Reuben Clark Law Building, Fletcher Building and the Administration Building.
