The old Sawyer Library is coming down in Williamstown.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — It is a scene right out of the dreams of any mediocre student.

 

Williams College is tearing down the former Sawyer Library, a demolition process that is expected to consume the better part of the summer.

 

"The structure will be down to grade by the end of the week," Williams Senior Project Manager Bruce Decoteau said on Tuesday. "Then obviously, there's a huge basement or cellar that goes a couple of stories below grade."

 

Those who struggled with grades when they were in school might enjoy the sight of a library being ripped down piece by piece, but the fact is that Sawyer has been vacant for more than a year anyway since it was replaced by the brand-new Stetson-Sawyer Library complex next door.

 

The old Sawyer, a 1970s Brutalist structure that had outlived its usefulness, is being cleared to make way for a new campus green that will connect the new library with the Paresky Center, Williams' version of what on many campuses is referred to as a student union. The greenway will be framed by Schapiro and Hollander halls, opened in 2008.

 

Decoteau said that phase one of the campus' redesign — the elimination of the old Sawyer — will be completed in time for the beginning of the new academic year in September.

 

Temporary pathways will be available to connect the buildings that will frame the planned green.

 

Next summer, the college will go back and finish landscaping the new outdoor space, Decoteau said.

 

When completed, the campus redesign will include a reworking of nearby Chapin Drive, which will be dead-ended at the driveway for the First Congregational Church parking lot and turned into a pedestrian way.