"We're outta there!" Final exams were over and nothing but graduation
lay ahead for these seniors.
Instead, I thought this inaugural effort should focus on some of the challenges and opportunities that
lay ahead for the Institute, and how we are preparing to meet them.
In the year of Sulla's death, 78 B.C., the purges had subsided, Mithridates had been placated, tenuous threads of legality still held the Roman Republic together, and the Spartacan revolt still
lay ahead.
Beginning with a challenging design program, three distinct structures representing more than 100 years of construction, and an overall historic preservation goal, the design team could not have imagined what challenges
lay ahead. Not the least of these was a devastating fire in March 2003 that consumed the entire facility as renovations and additions were just two months from completion!