Sometimes the roof of the architecture building is the only place Jeff Leven can finish his projects.

The fourth-year architecture student often refuses to use the available booth to spray-mount his projects because the space is uncomfortable and dirty.

When he moves to the hallways, there's a different problem.

"It smells bad and (the spray) is really bad for you," Leven said.

Those problems are minimized on the roof. But Leven would still prefer not to work there.

Architecture students like Leven hoped that a proposed $7 million addition to the building would improve and expand its facilities, giving students more space to work.

Now, they fear they may not get that extra space. When President Peter Likins and Provost George Davis released a proposal yesterday that could lead to the closure of the School of Planning and Landscape Architecture, they also questioned the need for that project. Those schools make up two of the three parts in the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture.

The addition had been a centerpiece of CAPLA Dean Richard Eribes' plan to create an interdisciplinary college where all three of those schools worked closely, both physically and academically.

"The concept was to bring everyone under one roof," Davis said.

But with the elimination of two of those schools becoming a distinct possibility, the move toward consolidation could soon become irrelevant.

For architecture students, that could mean the addition to the building is delayed, scaled back or even eliminated. And without the extra space, they would have to continue working in spaces that are far more cramped than at many comparable universities.

"(Eribes) has made the case that square footage per student and faculty member is woefully substandard," Davis said. "The needs are significant still."

At UA, architecture students have about 25 square feet of space per person, but at peer institutions like the universities of Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio State University, that number averages about 60 square feet.

Of those 25 square feet, half are filled by a large drafting table, Eribes said.

"In the remaining 12.5 square feet, they spend an average of at least 20-24 hours a week standing there," Eribes said.

The addition would have increased that number from 25 square feet to approximately 70, an amount that Eribes called "only humane."

"We would never ever choose to put anyone in that consciously," he said.

The lab space shortage sometimes forces students to work in hallways or classrooms "even though we get yelled at for it," said fourth-year architecture student Brandy Billingsley.

On nights before big projects are due, some students move to the adjoining hallway, and others have to compete for space on the large wooden tables that dominate the workspaces.

"The night before projects are due is the worst time," Leven said. "People are cranky as it is and this makes it worse."

Students complain not only of inadequate space in the building's large labs, but also of a cramped wood shop and an inconvenient, outdoor metal shop that is housed away from the building.

Storage space is limited for the 50-pound bags of plaster and concrete that many students need for their projects, which often consist of expanding large models as the semester progresses.

Crowding is a concern Davis insists on addressing further and said if the building project is eliminated, administrators will continue looking for ways to give architecture students more space.

As classes opened yesterday afternoon, several of the approximately 25 students listening to a professor review a syllabus in the lab sat on desks, tables or stools perched on tables to see the professor.

Joel Valdez doesn't want to see the crowding. But the senior vice president for business affairs, who oversees several departments that work on construction projects, said the building's future depends on whether the state will give UA the money.

"There's never been a doubt in my mind (about giving students more space) · we just have to find out where the money is coming from," he said.

Because the building addition had been in the planning stages, no official timeframe had been set for its completion, Valdez said. But second-year students hoped it would be finished by the time they entered the fifth year of the five-year architecture program.

Now, administrators will go back to work trying to find ways to improve the facility. Though no specific plans have been put forward, administrators say they will continue trying to find ways to give students adequate space.

"People can't work in that environment and be effective," Dean Eribes said.