The University’s newest building is starting to take shape between Huestis and Deschutes halls, but by the time the project is done, passersby won’t be able to see the results from the outside.
Last summer, workers began construction on the Integrative Science Complex, an underground building that will house several laboratories and much of the most valuable equipment shared by the science departments at the University.
Workers are now completing the concrete structure of the outside of the building, after which they will move to the complex’s interior, said Project Manager Mark Butler. When the project is finished, he said, the area will look the same as it did before, save for one above-ground entrance. Butler said the new complex is the first such site he has worked on.
“It’s a different animal,” Butler said. “Usually you have a big building to show people at the end, but this one’s going to be different. We’ll have a grassy courtyard.”
The facility will be open for use by next fall, he said.
University Chemistry Professor Jim Hutchison, who toured the site yesterday, said he and the rest of the science departments are looking forward to seeing the facility come together in its final stages.
“We’re so excited,” Hutchison said. “It’s been a couple of years in the making, so it’s exciting to be able to see it take form.”
Some researchers in labs close to the site have had some difficulty working near the construction noise, though the contractor typically notifies researchers of their construction plans, Hutchison said.
Lease Crutcher Lewis, the contractor overseeing the site, is also currently working on a complete renovation of Peterson Hall near Lillis. That project is also scheduled to be finished by next fall, Butler said.
In addition to its two current undertakings at the University, the same contractor also constructed the Lillis Business Complex in 2003.
– Eric Florip