Construction at Dineen Hall — Syracuse University’s new law building — can be monitored via live video feeds on the Dineen Hall Development website.

The new facility is expected to open in fall 2014. The website is newly redesigned and features two video feeds operating 24 hours a day, according to the Dineen Hall Development website.

The SU law school broke ground on a state-of-the-art facility funded by alumni and friend donations, along with a $15-million gift from the Dineen family. The hall will be located on a site behind the Carrier Dome, previously a parking lot.

Dineen Hall will be in the middle of a new neighborhood of the SU campus, which includes the recently opened Campus West complex.

The new 200,000-square-foot Dineen Hall was designed to include more communal spaces to foster a community environment within the school, according to the website.

A main focal point of the new building will be a grand auditorium that will also serve as a ceremonial courtroom. Technology will also be a major factor in developing the atmosphere, with videotaping and broadcasting capabilities in every classroom, according to the website.

“I’m hoping it will develop a much stronger sense of the collaborative and connected nature of legal education,” said Dean of the SU College of Law Hannah Arterian in the fall 2011 Syracuse Law magazine. “Dineen Hall will facilitate more interaction and community at every level.”

Several new spaces will be available for faculty, alumni and students to meet each other, said Nina Kohn, a professor of law, on the website.

The digital recreations of the hall, described on the website as “a building of the 21st century,” include spacious openings, bright lighting and several new amenities. Dineen Hall will feature a 300-seat auditorium, a 36,000-square-foot library, eight seminar rooms and two smaller lecture halls, according to the SU Office of Campus Planning, Design, and Construction website.

SU will also be able to add another LEED-certified building to its campus with the completion of Dineen Hall, which features a rooftop garden and a focus on green technology.

The building has deeper ties to SU through the architecture firm working on the project: Gluckman Mayner Architects. The lead architect on the project is Richard Gluckman, an SU alumnus.

The traditional brick-and-mortar stereotype of a law building is not to be expected with this hall, said Marc Malfitano, an adjunct professor at the law school, on the website.

Said Malfitano: “What we’ve created in Dineen Hall is so much more than that.”

Published on September 11, 2012 at 1:01 am

Contact Jen: jbundy@syr.edu