The long-delayed and long-awaited Eddie Robinson Museum Project is still being planned. It is currently in its first phase where the Women’s Gym is being drawn up.”We have to measure every facet of the building,” said Dr. Edwin Thomas, associate professor of the Industrial and Engineering Technology Department. “We have to measure everything.”
Thomas’ students are currently working hard to finish up the drawings for the Women’s Gym so the contractor, Newman Machine Partnership, Inc. of Shreveport, can start the renovating phase of the Museum Project. They have been working on the drawings since the end of September, according to Thomas.
“One of the hardest things to do is renovate a building,” Thomas explained. “When you’re starting from scratch, you can just build based on the ground. The building codes change over the years. The only thing they’ve done is added the handicap ramp.
“With renovations, you have the load barren walls that hold up the structure,” Thomas continued. “When you do renovation drawings, you have to look at the fact that you have to do the floor plan, elevation plans, electrical plans, and foundation plans. We may have to do a roof plan.”
One of the reasons a new drawing is needed is that GSU does not have a blueprint on file. The Women’s Gym was built in the 1950s. Thus, the students were asked by the contractor to draw designs, which are all computerized.
“The students get experience by doing the renovation drawings,” Thomas said. “It allows them to go look at things not provided in the classrooms. These types of things make you a much better student.”
The work done is no easy task.
“It’s not hard, but it’s time consuming, especially when you have to measure every minute part of the building,” Thomas said.
After the drawings are complete, which is slated to be the end of October, the next phase of the project can begin. However, the next phase is dependent upon the drawings done by the GSU students of the Industrial and Engineering Technology Department.
“I guess you can say we have a helping hand in the Eddie Robinson Museum,” Thomas said.