Collier House
The building closed last spring following the discovery of mold that painter David Guske said began growing after a furnace pipe cracked, spewing steam into the building where it consolidated in the attic. The moisture then seeped between the walls, growing mold that proved hazardous to respiratory heath. But as he painted a replaced wall on the staircase leading to the second floor, Guske said the project went smoothly and that Collier, the oldest building on campus, will be open by the beginning of classes. Guske said after he and his team finish painting, and the new floors get sanded and varnished, the building will be open for business.
Deady Hall
Half of Deady Hall, one of campus’ oldest buildings, is covered by a web of scaffolding. Al Haddy, supervisor for the project, said the renewal project began by stripping off the lead-based paint and removing asbestos, but now he and his co-workers are cleaning the facade and tearing down the vines growing along the sides. Other crews are looking over the roof and the inside walls, giving them touch-ups before the project is scheduled to be completed on the first day of classes.
Preferred Construction President Tim Gribble, whose company is handling the project, said two years ago a crew revamped the south side of the building, and that lead and asbestos removal specialists came for a strip-and-peel job ensuring that the project provided no danger for the community or for the workers themselves.
“We’re restoring it to its original glory,” Gribble said.
Lawrence Hall Courtyard
As part of a class offered through the Department of Landscape Architecture, 10 students worked hand in hand with Department Head Stan Jones to design and build a new courtyard. The students designed the courtyard spring term in a landscape architecture class, and started construction at the beginning of summer term, senior Jennifer Surdyk said.
“We came out here with our own two hands,” Surdyk said. “We’re really really proud.”
Surdyk said the students hoped to use the courtyard to unify the different designs of the surrounding buildings and to create a simple, unifying space that complemented the lines of the windows and encompassing columns.
She especially enjoyed designing the layout for plants, which will be put to earth in mid-October when the air has cooled.
Beyond the satisfaction of seeing a project though from the idea to the concrete, Surdyk said having constructed work in her portfolio will make her much more attractive to employers.
Jones said the project also employs sustainable building techniques, especially in terms of drainage. The bricks on the ground, recycled from other projects on campus and baked from Oregon clay, have spaces between them that allow water to seep into the ground. The excess water will flow into a bioswale drain that routes the water into another drain across Franklin Blvd., where it eventually ends up in the Millrace pond. The bioswale slows the water and filters out particulate matter.
The courtyard will be ready for use by the first day of classes, Jones said.
During the summer, Lawrence Hall has also seen the renovation of two auditoriums: Rm. 177, which was gutted and will be ready for operations by the first day of classes, and Rm. 115, which was also gutted, but will not be ready until December.
Carson Hall
For the past 50 years, when diners finished their meals at the Carson Dining Hall they scraped their leavings into a trough filled with water that ferried scraps away into a grinding disposal, part of a mammoth dishwashing machine known lovingly as “Hoss” to the Carson staff. That’s what people remembered most about eating there, Manager Cindy Lund said; how the ends of their plates would float away when they couldn’t eat any more.
But now, with the installation of a new $100,000 dishwashing system known as “Little Joe,” Hoss has been reduced to a few parts that Lund plans to mount of the kitchen wall in memorium.
“It’s definitely the end of an era,” she said.
Little Joe, which takes up less than half the space of Hoss, will make clean-up easier for customers and employees, Lund said, and, in the long run, save money and time on maintenance.
Lorry I. Lokey Laboratories
By the end of fall term 2007, the gaping hole that was formerly a courtyard between Deschutes and Huestis Halls will be a state-of-the-art, 26,000 sq. ft. underground science facility housing millions of dollar’s worth of technology and laboratories.
Because most of the building will be underground, students returning to campus may hear heavy machinery boring into the bedrock on their way to class, Pearson said. The complex must fuse itself into the bedrock – 19 feet from the surface and six feet into the rock – as a safeguard against even the most minute vibrations from sound or roads. Vibration, Pearson said, could harm the research and experiments undertaken by the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), which will employ the $100 million of equipment that ONAMI has said the structure will contain upon completion.
This structure, which will cost about $16 million to complete, is part of a $76 million Integrative Science Complex that also includes a behemoth $60 million building to be built on campus by 2009. Funding for the project, came largely from ONAMI, lottery funds from the Oregon Legislature, and from Business Wire founder Lorry Lokey, the University’s single-most generous academic donor.
Earl Complex
When international students lived in Riley Hall, they had the luxury of sinks in their rooms, but the building was several blocks off campus at 650 E. 11th Avenue. This separation from the campus acted as a block for international students attempting to better connect with their American peers, Housing Director Mike Eyster said.
Now, across from the Living Learning Center and adjacent to the EMU, the International House in the Earl Complex will be an
on-campus home for both students coming from the far reaches of the world to study at the University and for students who want to live somewhere with a more worldy flavor. Additions include room renovations, an elevator and a kitchen so students can get together and commune over a meal that brings them back to their homelands, Eyster said.
Construction on the complex will be completed by the start of classes.