After more than a year of remodeling work, the 100 building will open to band, choir and foods classes by the end of this month. With minor changes and touch ups needed, the art and photography rooms will open in early June.

"Having a new [band] classroom is really exciting," junior Rosie Ibarra said. "It is hard to work in the cafeteria because the sound is so bad. It’s really hard to blend together."

Ibarra plays the clarinet in the band and looks forward to moving from the band’s temporary location in the cafeteria to the new, acoustically engineered band room. The band room, along with the choir room, has acoustic absorbers and diffusers hanging from the ceiling. Both rooms also have practice rooms with sound-absorbing walls.

"The new room has a lot more space and it will be a lot easier to organize," junior drummer Patrick O’Konsky said.

The band room also contains 15 new storage cabinets for instruments.

The new building will host photography, foods, art history, ceramics, glass and art classes.

"Our [ceramics] room right now is so cold and dark," junior Roxana Moussavian said.

The opening of the new classrooms will be a relief to the ceramics and glass blowing classes, which are temporarily staked out in a makeshift tent by the auto building. According to Moussavian, because of the current conditions, the class can’t use clay because they share the room with woodshop, and can only work with wax. Moussavian looks forward to moving into a new room.

The building also has a new dark room for photography.

"The move for photography to the new building is not as beneficial for us in terms of space as it is for other programs," photography teacher Margo Wixsom said.

The current photography room has a large classroom and darkroom, an office with built-in cabinets and bookcases and three storage rooms for equipment and supplies. According to Wixsom the new classroom is much smaller, and is the only room in the new building without storage space.

In between the photo and art history classroom will be a new computer lab. Wixsom looks forward to having new computer equipment that will help make the transition to digital photography easier.

The Norseman Gallery will also return to the 100 building. The gallery was organized and developed by Paly art teacher David Camner in 2003 and exhibits student artwork.

According to Assistant Principal Chuck Merritt, the only task remaining before the building is completely opened is the “punch list.” Finishing items on the "punch list" is the final stage of the building process where small details are added and any last-minute changes are implemented.

Some additions needed include a stovetop on the demonstration table in the foods room and more lockers for the band room.

After the photo class moves out Merritt says the current photo room will become the custodian headquarters, where they will be more conveniently and centrally located.

The 1970s-era 100 building is the most recent of campus renovations that have taken place over the past couple years. Others include a new science building and pool. According to Merritt, this does not mean that the theater and other facilities will not receive any attention in upcoming years.