Architect Alums Set to Work on Campus by Marjorie Smith Stained glass in the rotunda of the Montana State Capitol building once sat derelict on a rail siding in Virginia City after it had been removed from the capitol in a long-forgotten remodel. Thanks to Billings-based A&E Architects, the recent capitol building renovation included reinstallation of the stained glass and other historically important items, such as the huge light fixtures that hang once again in the Senate Chamber. Now A&E Architects Jim Bos, '70 Arch, Jim Baker, '75 Arch, and Paul Siderius, '92 Arch, look to do restorative and remodeling work at MSU. Over the next few years two projects will improve the safety, accessibility and environment on campus. Once funding is set, the firm will oversee renovation of Herrick Hall and the ambitious student facilities enhancement project. "When you are going through school, you always hope that you can someday have some influence on the built environment of the campus," says Bos, a principal in A&E. His partner, Baker, says, "It's what I like doing best--I like the college atmosphere, the mixture of students and faculty." In the case of Herrick Hall, fund-raisers will come up with the money through private donations. "We will bring Herrick Hall up to code," says Siderius. "That entails installing an elevator, adding more stairs for egress, remodeling the office layout and the fourth floor, which used to be filled with art classes but has been closed for years by order of the fire marshal." For the student facilities project, the architects made presentations to the MSU student senate, which authorized putting a student fee increase on the ballot for the ASMSU election in April. In recent years A&E Architects have been involved with several high-profile projects around the state, in addition to the Montana Capitol, completed in 2000. Bos says the capitol project involved saving a major historical building."Economic times weren't quite so austere in 1995," he says, "and the leadership at the time recognized that it was now or never as far as saving that building." One of the biggest challenges was a very abbreviated timeline for a huge project. Construction had to wait until the end of the 1999 legislative session and be completed in time for the next session. That gave the contractors about 18 months to work. "That made it much more challenging," Bos says. One stroke of luck that allowed Bos and his colleagues to restore much of the capitol's original 19th century glory was the state's purchase of much of Virginia and Nevada Cities. An earlier renovation of the capitol had removed many historic pieces collected by Charles Bovey, the Great Falls rancher who privately restored the two Madison County gold rush towns. With the stained glass, light fixtures and other artifacts in state possession, A&E Architects returned them to the capitol building. Other major A&E projects have included the Lake Hotel in Yellowstone National Park and many restoration projects in downtown Billings. With much of their work centering on historic restoration, A&E Architects recently merged with the Missoula firm of another MSU alum, James McDonald, '70 Arch. McDonald is a preservation specialist. "We merged because we'dbeen collaborating so much that it made sense for the two firms to work together," Bos says. Another ongoing project for the firm is the restoration/preservation of the Old Faithful Inn. The firm has completed work on the wings of the Inn and now will begin work on the "old house"--the dramatic central court of the building. The two forthcoming projects are not A&E's first venture onto the MSU campus. They did the expansion of the student union in the early '80s, and before that designed the veterinary lab. With his fondness for working with the mixed constituencies, Baker will be the principal in charge of SUB renovation and expansion, as well as updating the fitness facilities in the Health and PE complex (HPE). "It's clearly time for work on the student facilities," Baker says. "It's 25 years since the last renovation of the SUB doubled the size of the ballroom. The HPE complex was built in the '70s and '80s with little or no renovation since. There's a need for updating both facilities, and we also need to take care of deferred maintenance issues." Today's students," he says, "are particularly enamored with bringing the rec center up to modern standards, something that is happening all across the country."