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December 14, 2002

Purdue trustees hire architects for 2 engineering projects

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue University Board of Trustees today (Saturday, 12/14) approved hiring architects to design a $46 million multidisciplinary engineering building and a $25 million biomedical engineering building.

The board also approved naming the School of Chemical Engineering building in honor of two alumni who donated $10 million for the building's new addition and renovation. In other action, the board agreed to plan, finance and construct a Calumet campus student housing project estimated to cost up to $16.5 million.

Ratio Architects Inc. of Indianapolis will design the 238,000-square-foot multidisciplinary engineering building, which will house the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the School of Materials Engineering. The building also will be home to Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS), the Women in Engineering Program, Department of Freshman Engineering, Minority Engineering Programs, the Technical Assistance Program (TAP), Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies, Cooperative Engineering Education Programs, and other outreach and academic programs.

The structure will be built at the corner of Northwestern and Stadium avenues. Purdue has requested $36 million in state funds and needs $10 million in gift funds to begin construction.

BSA Design of Indianapolis will provide architectural and engineering services for the 93,500- square-foot, three-story biomedical engineering building. The building will house the Department of Biomedical Engineering, including its new undergraduate biomedical engineering program, as well as the existing graduate programs and research activities. One focus of biomedical engineering will be "tissue engineering," which creates materials from animal tissue that can be used to aid healing in people.

The project is being built on the south campus near the site of the Discovery Park research complex. Purdue has requested $13 million in state funds and needs $12 million in gift funds to begin construction.

The board named the Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering to honor Robert and Marilyn Forney, of Unionville, Pa., both of whom are 1947 chemical engineering alumni and longtime Purdue supporters.

Robert Forney, who holds his bachelor's and doctoral degrees from Purdue, as well as an honorary doctoral degree, retired in 1989 as executive vice president of E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co.

Marilyn Forney, who also earned her bachelor's degree from Purdue, has spent more than 20 years offering expertise in the construction of more than 850 housing units for the low-income elderly and disabled in Delaware and Pennsylvania. She also has led fund-raising efforts in a number of volunteer organizations.

The couple's $10 million gift helped fund the $19.5 million, five-story, 96,000-square-foot addition being built on the current building. The project also will equip the new and existing facilities with state-of-the-art technologies and high-performance instrumentation.

The expansion project, for which ground was broken in September, is the largest in school history. The School of Chemical Engineering enrolls about 110 graduate and 400 undergraduate students.

The three engineering building projects are part of the Schools of Engineering's master plan, which calls for approximately $250 million in new construction, $100 million in new equipment and $60 million in renovations to meet anticipated needs for the next 15-20 years. These new and renovated buildings will expand the schools' physical, usable space by almost 60 percent. Purdue's engineering program, with 13 schools and almost 6,200 undergraduate students, is one of the largest in the nation.

The board also approved a plan to build a $15.5 million to $16.5 million, 360-bed student housing complex at Purdue's Calumet campus. HCO Inc. of Indianapolis will design the apartment-style, student housing project, and American Campus Communities will serve as planning and management consultants.

Kenneth P. Burns, executive vice president and treasurer, said $2 million must be raised from private sources before the project can begin.

In other business, the board's Physical Facilities Committee awarded MacDougall Pierce Construction Inc. of Fishers, Ind., the construction contract to begin work on the first phase of a $2 million Swine Research Complex at the West Lafayette campus. The project will modernize Purdue’s facilities in keeping with industry standards.

Drago G. Panich and Associates of Lafayette, Ind., provided project architectural and engineering services for the combined 15,000-square-foot complex. The project is scheduled for completion in 2003. It will be funded by the Lynnwood Endowment, which was established from the 1988 sale of the Charles Lynn family's Lynnwood Farm in Carmel, Ind.

Writer: Grant Flora, (765) 494-2073; gflora@purdue.edu

Sources: Kenneth P. Burns, (765) 494-9705; kpburns@purdue.edu

Wayne Kjonaas, vice president for physical facilities, (765) 494-8000, wwkjonaas@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu


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