If all goes as planned, the Ohio State Marching band will have a new home by next football season.As part of the stadium renovation project, “The Best Damn Band In The Land” will be moving into one of the finest facilities in the country.”The band room renovation is probably one of the most significant and important things that has happened to the OSU Band in its history,” said Jon Woods, professor of music and director of the OSU Marching Band.According to the OSU Marching Band’s website, the band is housed in three levels of the stadium on the northwest side. The new band room will be located on the northeast side of the stadium, directly across from the current facility. It will have 22,000 square feet on two floors, suspended one floor above ground level.Woods said that the band is in desperate need of a larger space for its rehearsals.”We have come to a critical point because we have outgrown our current facility,” he said.Band members to the left and right of the conductor can’t directly see him because there are poles in the way. In addition, there is no air conditioning, making it very uncomfortable in the summer and fall, especially during tryouts, when more than 300 people are in the room.Plans for the new facility include a 5,000 square foot, acoustically correct room, that more than doubles the current 2,200 square foot room.While the rehearsal room is the most important renovation, there are other spaces that need work as well.The new facility will accomodate men and women equally. The women’s locker room has never been adequate, Woods said. It was added in 1973 when the band became co-ed.The renovation will also allow for a music library, offices and work area for staff, instrument and uniform storage, smaller practice rooms for individual section rehearsals, direct access to the ground level of the stadium and elevator access to both levels.The facility’s layout has taken years of thinking and planning, Woods said.The architect worked with input from the student staff, alumni, former directors and current band members to design the most practical and user-friendly facility possible.”The plan makes sense,” Woods said. “It was not just thrown together.”Construction for the band’s new facility will begin in early December and is expected to be completed by June 29, 2000. At that time, the current room will be torn down.The band facility will be one of the first projects completed in the overall stadium renovation projects. The total cost of the renovations will run about $5 million, Woods said. The athletic department is providing $2.8 million for the project, according to the band’s website.The other $2 million will be raised by a fund-raising campaign conducted by the College of the Arts , the Athletic Department and the TBDBITL Alumni Club .Woods praised the athletic department for working to help the renovation efforts.”Not only are they giving a large amount of money, but they are providing logistical support in getting the project complete,” he said.Woods also said that the fund-raising efforts are going well, but the band does have a plan in case the necessary money cannot be raised in time.”We hope to get enough money to build it all at once, but we can build with what we have and hope to hit the goal,” he said.