Rotunda construction to add ramp, fix leaky roof
By Edward Hock | June 22, 2000Facilities management workers have spent the past week building a plywood wall around Thomas Jefferson's crowning architectural achievement. The temporary fence marks the beginning of renovations that will include a new ramp to provide handicap access to the Rotunda from the Lawn side and repairs to leaks in the roof over offices in the portico. Project Manager Mashal Afredi said the project has been a long time coming. "Actual people who are in wheel chairs always comment" on the poor handicapped access to the Rotunda, Afredi said. Afredi said she and others working on the project have taken care to ensure that the construction will not compromise the Rotunda's architectural and historical integrity. "We probably would have had handicapped access years earlier if not for so many meetings" about preserving the building's original structure, she said. Special steps aimed at retaining the building's historical value include matching materials to the Rotunda and demanding care in the work, Engineering and Design Manager John Davis said. "[University Curator and Architect J.
