The blasts of winter are upon us and as you probably expected it has slowed the work on the Campus Center however, not unexpected, Boldt is prepared.

The cold weather has necessitated the rental of heaters to be put into the areas where concrete has been poured. Heating the area does not expedite the process but aids in the process of “curing’.To insure our concrete has dried without loss of strength, poured cylinders are removed and taken for evaluation by the engineers at River Valley Testing. No forms are removed from the site pourings until the engineers have approved the sample cylinders.

The largest pouring occurred when 114 yards of concrete were delivered and “raked” into place for the floor of the dining area and the area backing up to Sage. That was a marathon day with the workers laboring from 6:30 am to 9:30 pm! The night lighting at the site was tremendous, I thought a circus had moved onto campus.

One of the most difficult jobs during the cold weather is that of the iron workers. They must anchor and tie all of the rebars in place, a job that is a challenge without gloves! Boldt was prepared for all the cold weather demands and has adjusted their schedule. They are using the heaters on a daily basis and they had been reserved before the cold weather hit.

Our land bridge is in place! What a massive effort it was with the 18 sections being carefully put into place. The administration and Campus Center teams are concerned about students, faculty and staff crossing Lawe Street as they await a safer route with the completion of the land bridge. The College Avenue bridge construction will force traffic to Lawe Street and our only crossing from the east to the west side of the campus is Lawe Street. With our largest food facility located to the east, the amount of foot traffic is significant. In tandem with Boldt we are escalating the schedule on the bridge and hope to have it safe and useable by the beginning of the next academic year.

When touring our site I am continually struck by the size of our building and the land bridge. Sure, I knew all along that the building was 107,000 square feet and I knew the land bridge was going to be as wide as Riverview Lounge is long but seeing the reality, everything is much larger than I had imagined. Check it out!

I was disappointed to read the staff editorial in the “Lawrentian” on January 24, 2008. The Campus Center Planning Committee, which includes student members feels that our new “hub” presents new opportunities for interaction as well as improved services. The writers of the editorial were misinformed about the offices currently residing in Raymond House and Brokaw. There is NO plan to move to these offices to the new building. In my mind, the advantages of our Campus Center outweigh even a period of “rough transition”

At present Uihlein Wilson, the architects and Peter Schaupt, the landscape architect are at work on the details of the plaza in front of the Campus Center and the river walk. The initial design for the river walk was conceived by students in Andy Knudsen’s environmental class. Theirs was a very thorough examination of the existing site and a creative use of the present plantings including proposed historic and informative signage. Again, we have an opportunity to enhance the campus with a user friendly and environmentally sound project. Details will be forth coming in another blog.

Much has taken place since last writing a blog. I will attempt to update readers with all of our incredible progress, credit going to Boldt, Uihlein Wilson and the two campus committees, Campus Center Construction Oversight Committee and the Campus Center Planning Committee. 3000 truck loads of earth have been removed and 600 truckloads (23 million pounds!) of concrete have been poured! We are on schedule and within budget!!!!!

I will begin with an update of the land bridge over Lawe Street. The schedule for land bridge construction has been driven by the City of Appleton and the reconstruction of the College Avenue bridge which will begin in June 2008. Due to the College Avenue bridge being closed, all traffic will be diverted to Lawe Street. Lawe Street must be free of all construction when College Avenue is closed, therefore our land bridge has to be in place with all cranes, trucks and workmen out of the way. In the previous blog you learned the foot bridge had been “deconstructed”. Our land bridge (no longer a foot bridge) progresses and includes the pouring of the abutments and the ordering of the concrete precast sections. After further measurements are taken, as the abutment concrete cures, 18 bridge sections weighing a total of 1,023,800 pounds, will be put into place in early January. The bridge will be partially complete once the sections are lowered into place, however, much work remains before the students will be allowed to use it. Welding, railings and the building of walkways and contours must be finished before the landscaping can be installed. We are projecting a date of October 2008 for pedestrian use of the bridge. The precast part of the bridge is going to be enhanced by large letters spelling out “Lawrence University” for all Lawe Street traffic, pedestrian or vehicular, to see.

Our “Concrete Pour” was a success with the weather clearing for about 4 hours which was just enough time to stage our event. Peter Bennett and Nathan Litt, students on the CCPC, opened the chute for the concrete to slide into a form or mold called a “dead head.” A “dead head” is used to keep the gang forms in place as the weighty concrete rushes into the “mold.” …and speaking of concrete, we will be pouring massive amounts of concrete from now until the end of April. We are pouring the structural slab on grade at elevation 743 this week. This slab will become part of the kitchen located to the north of the servery.

A lot of thought and planning has gone into the security system, security cameras and audio/visual needs for this building. Why did we tackle this detailed project at this point? The conduit for all of these technical pieces has to be put into the concrete slabs which are currently being poured and will continue to be poured for the remaining floors. The nature of this building requires a great deal of audio visual equipment; speakers, mixers, lighting, and screens not to mention computers and all their paraphernalia. (You can tell I am not a techie nor do I speak the language.) Steve Hirby and Steve Armstrong have really kept their fingers on this process and “we couldn’t have done it without them.” We have solicited professional advice for some of the audio visual equipment to be recessed into soffits and ceilings ensuring the sought after aesthetic appearance of each room.

“Vanilla” lighting, to quote our architect Del Wilson, has been selected. The “vanilla” lighting refers to all lighting which is not specialized for a space, for example special spaces like the Main Street, the cinema, etc. The vanilla lighting will be in the offices and work areas of the building and our choices were made with the help of Dan Meyer, LU energy guru, who continues to monitor the amount of energy we will be consuming in the new facility. Several lighting fixture samples for “Main Street” have been hung in the Science Hall Atrium to help the committee members make an informed choice. Proper lighting is so important and choosing the right lighting for spaces dedicated to special functions is crucial.

The selection of kitchen equipment has been a process which has taken over a year. There are over 500 pieces of new equipment for the kitchen and some of our present equipment, in excellent condition, will be moved into the new facility. Patrick Niles, Director of Dining Services has poured over countless spec sheets and asked at least a million questions to ensure our kitchen equipment is energy efficient, the proper capacity and comes with a warranty or servicing program. The servery promises to provide variety and fresh food choices for the students and we expect our new kitchen equipment will help us reach this goal.

The process of pouring concrete in cold weather employs unique techniques and is labor intensive. When next I “blog” I will cover that subject.

…from the Project coordinator’s perspective

Work on the new Campus Center continues at good speed. If you look on the webcam you can see the form of the building actually rising out of the ground. The foundations are being poured and have been completed around the perimeter of the new building except for the south west corner of Sage, where excavating must continue before further pouring is undertaken.

Despite the deluge rains forming a rather muddy pool at the lowest point of the excavation work preventing further digging, the construction has continued, and we are only two weeks behind our initial schedule. I continue to be amazed with the detail accomplished by large pieces of equipment. We are now into “neat digging” which allows the details of the structure to be provided “in the ground.” Due to the high clay content of the soil at this depth we are able to use the soil as the form into which the concrete is poured. Large back-hoes carve the exact measurements (“neat digging”) to prepare for the concrete pours. If you look at the webcam you can see the steps for the west side of the building, which have been poured. Neat digging!

As you can also see on the webcam, the tower crane has been erected. I am told this is the highest crane and boom used in the Fox Valley to date. At 180 feet tall, this crane and boom can be seen up and down the Fox River as well as from the interior of the campus. A “house” has been built at the bottom of the crane to provide security for our “attractive nuisance.” Sporting three flashing red lights and one bright spot light, our crane is visible at night! Recently the Appleton Fire Department did safety training on the crane, training in the event there was a need for rescue on our site. It was quite a sight to see all sizes and shapes of garbed fire fighters up on the boom of the crane.

The creation of the nine caissons was another interesting feat of engineering. The caissons, which are drilled down to bedrock, are dug with an immense auger, which periodically surfaces to get the excavated earth out of the hole. When the hole reaches a depth specified by the engineers a metal sleeve or casing is inserted into the hole to prevent the walls from collapsing. The sleeve/casing is lowered as the hole deepens and more sleeve added as necessary. Once the ultimate depth is reached the concrete is poured as the casing is “jacked up” and removed.

One of the processes taking place in which we can take great pride is the reuse of materials. We are in line for a silver LEED certificate (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) which endorses the reuse of materials. The LEED certification is explained in detail on the link found on this website. Three good examples of the reuse of materials and efforts are (1) the tower crane needed to be erected on a five foot thick concrete pad. This pad is located exactly where we are going to install the west side elevator. When the tower crane is dismantled, the pad will remain for the elevator. (2) Previously, I told you about the 60,000 cubic yards of earth to be hauled away. Instead of all the earth going to a landfill, the topsoil has been stock-piled, to be returned to the site when landscaping takes place. (3) When the present footbridge is demolished the piers will be deconstructed and pulverized into chat. The chat will be used for underlayment on the John Street Plaza and other paved areas. The entire LEED certification is well worth the effort put into it. It certainly entails more paper work for the architects and contractors but insures future savings for Lawrence and for our earth.

Working with Boldt Construction has been an enlightening and positive process. When next I log on, you’ll hear more about this. Check out the webcam and the LEED link.