What lies beneath

Julie Brown

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Ten of Yale’s residential colleges have now had their basements remodeled as elaborate twenty-first-century rumpus rooms, with fitness centers and other amenities. But Ezra Stiles and Morse colleges had hardly any basements to be remodeled. Hence, this very large hole in the semicircular lawn between the colleges and Payne Whitney Gymnasium. When the excavation is filled and the college renovations are completed (Morse has its turn this year, Stiles in 2010–11), the two colleges will share a subterranean gym, recording studio, art studio, and hundred-seat theater. Or, if the economy doesn’t turn around, maybe just a swimming hole.