By Shaun Pothin '04

A diverse group of individuals, including two MacArthur Award winners gathered at Deerfield on November 9 to discuss the plans for the new Science, Math, and Technology Center.

The symposium included moderator Inigo Mangiano-Ovalle, an artist and instructor at the College of Architecture in the University of Illinois, and a 2001 MacArthur fellow in art; Dean of Faculty Richard Bonanno, a physicist; David Childs and Roger Duffy, architectural partners at Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM); Huston Eubank, a green architect from the Rocky Mountain Institute; Suzanne Flynt, a historian of the P9ocumtuck Valley Memorial Association; Michael Govan, curator of Director Dia Center for the Arts of New York; Kimberly Koile, a computer scientist from the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab; Richard Little, a geologist from Greenfield Community College; Deerfield Trustee J. Jeffry Louis; James Turrell, an artist and 1984 MacArthur Fellow in Art; Richard Walker, and observational astronomer from the Naval Observatory; and Headmaster Eric Widmer, a historian.

The panel convened in the dance studio for the day to discuss the building of Deerfield's new math and science center.

Costing roughly $40,000, the day was set up in the style of a symp9osium. Mr. Widmer said that as a result of the symposium "the building [technology center] will be more aesthetically pleasing, and it will very likely be even greener than we had already been planning." It will be designed so that it fits the architecture of the campus. "The building will be sensitive in its use of local materials," said Mr. Widmer.

Kimberle Koile discussed the possibilities of creating different interactive areas inside of the new building. James Turrell presented thoughts involving the reflection of light at different angles to provide different effects within the center.

Students were welcome to observe the discussions, and some even participated. Mr. Widmer said, "Several students came up to the microphone to make important points. The architecture students were fascinated by the different kinds of people that were all there." Other students had the opportunity to watch the proceedings between classes or during a free period.