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A 180-yard trench is being excavated in order to install chilled water pipes on campus, causing distraction and disruption for students at the Thornton School of Music.
The trench, just under the size of two football fields, extends from behind Taper Hall to the United University Church. The purpose of the trench is to aid heating and cooling infrastructure renovations as the church converts into a School of Dramatic Arts building.
The semester-long construction causes disruptions for students in the area, especially for students in the Thornton School of Music, whose classrooms sit between the two construction zones.
“There’s no peace in Thornton anymore,” said Tali Duckworth, a sophomore majoring in trumpet performance, when talking about how the construction has affected the area.
Duckworth’s frustration is shared by many Thornton students, who have had to deal with both the noise and sudden loss of practice and study space, including a conveniently located rehearsal tent.
“If I want to practice outside, there’s no real spot for me to do that,” Duckworth said.
Thornton students are being forced to take their equipment to Gateway in order to find quiet practice rooms, according to Lucca Cidale, a senior majoring in trumpet performance.
“What really makes it a pain is that now there’s construction going on. So on top of bands and stuff that rehearse out there, it’s like it’s just constantly noisy,” Cidale said.
The PPC Air Conditioning company, which is contracted by the university, claims they are trying their best to accommodate the needs of the students affected by the continued construction.
“The music building was having some issues with us,” said Joseph Rhodes, a project manager at the PPC Air Conditioning company. “They’re obviously trying to practice or possibly record or whatever their tasks are inside the building. So, it was asked of PPC to start earlier.”
PPC is working to accommodate students by shifting their construction schedule now starting at 3 a.m and ending around 11:30 a.m., according to Rhodes. In addition to accommodating students, PPC wants to be mindful of university space by using trench plates to cover sections of the trench near the church that disrupt traffic flow.
Nevertheless, students are frustrated with the rehearsal space lost to the construction and have also expressed confusion about the scope of the project.
“I don’t know what they’re making, but I just know that it doesn’t allow people to walk around campus easily,” said Duckworth. “It’s kind of just been sitting there.”
Unfortunately for students, production is expected to continue into the coming months. Hunter Gaines, executive director of USC Facilities Planning and Management, said in a statement to Annenberg Media that “the project, which broke ground July 25, is expected to be finished by December of this year.”
Correction: A previous version of this story stated the shift in PPC’s construction to end the day at 11:30 p.m., whereas the construction ends around 11:30 a.m. It was corrected and updated on Sept. 21.