The brotherhood added a new bar to the basement this term! This was a project that the 14s had begun to think about over their sophomore summer but never fully tackled. The idea was first brainstormed by Patton Lowenstein ’14 over Summer 2012 and then revitalized by Andrew Roberts ’14 this year. John Conley ’15, our new houseman as of this term, spearheaded the project.
Materials were purchased over the second weekend of the term with construction starting the following Thursday. Over the course of the next month, the bar was installed in the southwest corner of the basement outside the door to the mung (old basement). Many alumni saw glimpses of the project over Pigstick as it has been rooted into the ground since the day before the event; however, the project was completed this past Monday with the application of the final layer of waterproofing.
It is an L-shaped bar with storage space underneath it. We moved the refrigerator from the current bar area into the mung and have taken out a large part of the old bar in the northeast corner. That area has now become a favorite spot to play dice, flip cup, and other drinking games.
We chose to do this project for many reasons. The old bar was not very visible and interfered with one of the pong tables when lines to get beer would build up. This bar has more space around it for people to hang out and has a larger area over which we can serve people. Moving the refrigerator and beer to the mung allows us to control access to that room better because that room is largely a brothers-only space (except for when we bring friends back there to do ubangees!). In that same vein, it helps with risk management because brothers serving from behind the bar, who are also sober monitors, can survey the whole basement from this new location and restrict access to beer more easily. It also allows us to better monitor who is accessing those private spaces and is conveniently located next to the speaker system control unit and CD changer.
All-in-all, it was a great project and a great addition to the basement so far. If you are in Hanover, feel free to stop by and check it out. It looks great in the photos, but even better in person! A big shoutout to all the brothers who put their time into this becuase this was an activity that a lot of brothers were involved in. Special thanks to John Conley ’15, Andrew Roberts ’14, Will Baird ’15, Matt Barnes ’16, Will Cobau ’15, Dan Santana ’16, and David Wylie ’15 for the many hours they put into it.