Students walked into Dobbins Hall on the first day back from spring break to discover a new look – and smell – to the building: the walls had been repainted a darker peach color.

Most students were pleased by the change in atmosphere provided by the paint job.

“I think the color is refreshing and it brings light into the hallways,” Nikkan Ghosh (10) said.

“It adds a new dimension to Dobbins that I didn’t see before,” junior Sumit Minocha said. “In certain classrooms, the light reflects off the paint and it makes the room more of a vibrant color, whereas originally, the paint was dull and boring.”

While some thought the new paint added a fresh perspective, debate teacher Greg Achten wished that, “it was a little bit brighter. The whole area seems a bit darker than it was before.”

In addition to the change of scenery, the paint smell permeated throughout the building for the next few days, but was not as welcome as the view.

“I don’t like the paint smell a lot, but new paint is generally good.” Achten said.

In an email interview, facility manager Mike Bassoni said they had repainted Dobbins because, “it had not received a complete paint job since the building was completed in 1994.”

“With the changing color scheme of the surrounding buildings, we really felt the need to tie the Dobbins interior to that color palette,” Bassoni said.

The lockers in Dobbins hall will be repainted this summer as well to match the new color scheme.