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Campus under construction:
University working on multiple projects
by Steve Hinnefeld
(812) 331-4374
shinnefeld@heraldt.com
Bloomington Herald Times
August 13, 2007
It’s been a busy summer for construction on the Indiana University Bloomington campus, and the effort shows no signs of abating.
“If anything, it’s going to accelerate,” said university architect Bob Meadows.
Drive through any part of campus this month, and you’ll see construction.
On the south side, the Henderson Street parking garage is taking shape, and finishing touches are being put on a classroom and office building on Third Street.
Work recently began on Multidisciplinary Science Building II, with crews building forms and pouring the foundation for the research facility.
A $55 million package of athletics improvements is getting off the ground, with earth being moved at the north end zone of Memorial Stadium.
Also taking place are a slew of smaller projects, including state-funded roof replacements and building repairs and renovation of residence halls.
IU is spending $1.7 million to replace limestone panels on the exterior of the Wells Library, some of which came loose last winter, raising safety concerns. Mechanical fasteners are being used to secure the panels, which initially were held in place with cast concrete.
Meadows said work should start this fall on the Data Center, a “hardened” building that will house supercomputing and data storage equipment and keep them safe from tornadoes and other disasters.
The $32 million center will be built at the University School complex at 10th Street and the Ind. 45/46 Bypass — after the demolition, scheduled this month, of the Creative Arts Building at the site.
“It will be a facility that should withstand anything nature can throw at it,” Meadows said.
A Cyber Infrastructure Building for information-technology offices and facilities is planned for construction adjacent to the Data Center. It’s on hold until IU secures enough funding.
The athletics facilities, funded with gifts and athletics revenues, will include offices and weight-training facilities in a structure enclosing the north end zone, a student-athlete academic center, a basketball practice facility and a baseball-softball complex.
Meadows said researchers have begun moving into Simon Hall, a life-science research building in the central campus area. At the same time, the $51.7 million Multidisciplinary Science II is under construction behind the Psychology Building and expected to be done in two years. It will include labs for neuroscience, biogeochemistry and environmental science research.
IU officials had hoped the Henderson Street parking garage would open this month to alleviate a parking crunch with the opening of Simon Hall. But excavation work was slowed by rock and springs, Meadows said, and the garage isn’t expected to open until November.
Work should be done before school starts, Meadows said, on residence-hall projects: installation of air conditioning at Forest Quad and renovation of restrooms at Teter and McNutt. And he said the classroom and office building at 802 E. Third St. should be ready for occupancy this month. It will house biology teaching labs and the department of communication and culture.
Two other projects, a new School of Optometry clinic at 736 E. Third St. and a Hutton Honors College building at Seventh Street and Woodlawn Avenue, should start soon, Meadows said.
Last fall, when McRobbie was IU Bloomington interim provost, he created task forces to plan for converting Franklin Hall to academic uses, constructing a new student-services building and establishing an incubator for new businesses spun off of IU life-science discoveries.
“The planning is going to grow from the faculty, from the academic side,” Meadows said. “He’s really going to engage the faculty in talking about the current facilities and what their needs are, and the way education is going to be delivered.”
*This article was copied with permission from http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2007/08/13/news.nw-977364.sto?1187010128.