- August 30, 2018
- By Sala Levin ’10
Summer means a break for most students, but not for the campus itself. Over the warmer months, Facilities Management tackled new construction and renovation projects and made serious headway on ones already in progress. Bill Olen, executive director of planning and construction for Facilities Management, gives a rundown of the projects transforming the university.
Cole Field House
Dorchester Hall
IDEA Factory
Iribe Center for Computer Science and Innovation
McKeldin Mall
School of Public Health Building
Construction that will turn Cole Field House into a cutting-edge facility for academics, athletics and research continues until late 2019. Through the fall, workers will be erecting steel and putting in building foundations, plus finishing the tunnel between the new field in Cole and Maryland Stadium’s locker rooms.
New bathrooms, new heating and air conditioning, new windows and new energy-efficient lighting are all part of Dorchester’s renovation, as are new study areas and lounges and the return of 141 beds.
Work will begin this fall on the IDEA Factory, a 60,000-square-foot addition to the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building that will bring together students, faculty and staff in the A. James Clark School of Engineering to forge new ground in innovation and entrepreneurship. The IDEA Factory, which will replace the just-demolished Potomac Building, is projected to open in 2021.
The 215,600-square-foot Iribe Center for Computer Science and Innovation is scheduled to be completed this fall. One lane of Paint Branch Drive was closed in order to finish the sidewalk and handicapped-accessible ramps; two-way traffic resumed before the beginning of fall semester.
Now in the third phase of a multi-year renovation, McKeldin Mall got new underground storm drainage around Skinner Hall and Francis Scott Key Hall. The work improved surface drainage and minimized flooding.
So long, locker rooms and storage space. Hello, labs and learning studios: The ground floor of the School of Public Health Building is getting a makeover that will add new, innovative learning spaces.
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Campus & Community