Members of the planning committee for the Pfeiffer Dining Hall renovation tabled in Kent last week to communicate with students about the project.
Vice President for Student Development Matt Hansen said, “While work will begin after May Term, the actual work in Pfeiffer is scheduled to begin about one year from now.”
Pfeiffer will still be open for students to eat at for the first few months of the Fall 2025 semester, but it will close in November for the nine-month renovation, Hansen said.
They plan to reopen the newly renovated building to students in Fall 2026.
Since closing Pfeiffer will impact dining options on campus, the planning team is already determining how to manage food service during this time.
They will likely move all dining into Kent and potentially other locations. They are also going to extend Kent’s hours to match Pfeiffer’s current ones, as well as convert existing spaces in Kent to adapt stations like Pfeiffer has. For example, the previous sushi location might be a pasta or pizza place, Hansen mentioned.
Kerry Weig, the project architect from 10 Fold Architecture, said she has been learning about the needs of people on campus and converting those into designs.
Weig identified the need for better cooling in the kitchen, improved seating, more space to relax and incorporating more multicultural aspects.
Weig said the first thing she noticed was that the building seemed “tired,” so she knew when creating the designs that she wanted to make a space that was more vibrant while still “preserving the historic beauty.”
“We really want to open it up more because it feels kind of dark and congested in there right now because it’s pretty closed off,” Weig said.
The team plans to accomplish these goals by bringing a variety of textures into the design, getting a wider array of seating types and using brighter colors.
Simpson College Senior Project Manager Megan Marquardt specifically highlighted the changes to Great Hall. They plan to convert it into what she called a “campus living room,” or a space that students can access 24/7 for studying, eating or reserving the space for their student organizations.
Marquardt said the purpose of this renovation is to “create a better dining experience for the students and the Simpson community.”
“Right now, Pfeiffer is the best location on campus, but the building needs some love,” Marquardt said. “We’re gonna do a lot of upgrades, we’re gonna make it more modern, and we’re gonna make it so the building lasts another 50 years.”
Despite these renovations, Marquardt said she does not believe the school will increase tuition since 100% of the costs for this renovation will be fundraised, meaning the school is not taking out any loans for this project.
Marquardt said the planning team chose to table because they wanted feedback from the Simpson community, especially for a project with so many stakeholders.
During this session, Marquardt said the feedback they received was very positive and beneficial. “We are thrilled about the amount of feedback and comments we received, and it helps us through this process.”
However, not every student feels that way. First-year student Paisha Goodrich said, “They should focus more on adding more quality food and healthy options instead of closing a big food place. We don’t need fancy buildings if we have quality food.”
The team plans to table again in the spring to give more details as the project moves forward.
Until then, Marquardt and Hansen encourage anyone to reach out to them with questions.