Halfway Out the Box

A Picture Essay of Beacon Hall’s First Few Days
Brandon T. Bisceglia
Co-Editor in Chief

The walkways of Beacon Hall are spacious, with lounge areas scattered in seemingly random corners throughout the building. In one such alcove on the third floor, a couple of art-deco chairs stand next to a floor-to-ceiling window with a breathtaking view of… I-95.

This is the glory and the irony of HCC’s new building – lush carpets and fancy track-lighting side-by-side with half-painted walls and empty rooms. In some cases, such as the doughnut-shaped lounge tables, form appears to have trumped function. In others, the planners clearly foresaw the necessities of expansion, with class and office spaces beyond what current enrollment could possibly fill.

Jessica Jarrett, a transfer student who has not yet seen Lafayette Hall, notes that some of the new building’s finished construction has yielded some unsatisfactory results. “I don’t really like the fact that there are no windows in some of the classrooms,” she says. “At least they have climate control, which is nice… but it’s not the same.”

Some areas of Beacon Hall, on the other hand, have some rather unusual views to offer.

This window is typical of what one will see from the second and third stories. The designers were mindful of the potential for disturbance, of course – you will not hear a sound from any of the nearby thoroughfares.

The large student lounge on the third floor has an added feature – the windows contain light dampers to keep out the worst of the afternoon sun. This also obscures most of the busy Bridgeport horizon, as first-term student Samantha Carrano points out. “Those lovely smokestacks over there?” she muses, waving dismissively from her seat in the corner of the lounge. “I don’t even notice them.”


Carrano approves of the ample student space. “I can just chill out here,” she says. Indeed, students seem to have taken an immediate liking to some of the cozier spots.

Other areas, though, are not seeing as much traffic. In the first few days especiallyEspecially during the first few days of the semester, many of the rooms meant especially for students are bare and silent.

Some rooms, in fact, are still only husks. Search for the new bookstore or open computer labs, and all you find are naked wall fixtures.

Teachers, meanwhile, are struggling as much as – if not more than – students to make some sense of their new surroundings. Classrooms are moved, furniture finds its way across halls, and the faculty scrambles to locate their belongings.

In one case, English Professor Stephanie Hart’s boxes end up in the Horizons office. In the interim, she remains at Lafayette. When asked how she’s faring, she replies with a sigh: “It’s been exhausting.”


Because the HCC campus is relegated to a fairly cramped area, some of Beacon Hall’s entrances lead directly to the street. Around the corner from this stairwell, the sidewalk suddenly ends.

Accessibility, however, is no problem. The building can be entered from any side. There is even a patio on the third floor that connects directly to the garage. This spot is bound to be a favorite, with its expansive view of campus and the city skyline beyond.

As time goes on, all of the turmoil and excitement will of course fade into the mist of memory. Beacon Hhall will become as much an established fact as its sister across the courtyard. That, though, doesn’t make the tangible force of now any less important for those of us living in it. After all, this too is part of HCC’s long legacy.

(All photography by Brandon T. Bisceglia)