May 20, 2005
Purdue awards contract for Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering
WESTVILLE, Ind. – Purdue University's Board of Trustees today (Friday, May 20) awarded an Indianapolis company a $43.5 million contract to build the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering and extend utilities to the facility.
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Smoot Construction LLC will be the general contractor for Armstrong Hall, which will anchor the corner of Stadium and Northwestern avenues on Purdue's West Lafayette campus.
"Armstrong Hall will be a signature building in a prime location off the Purdue Mall in the academic core campus," said Morgan R. Olsen, executive vice president and treasurer. "While it will cost more than previously projected, the building will be a wonderful environment for some of Purdue's high-profile engineering programs. We are eager to start construction this summer so that the facility can be available for the fall of 2007."
Four companies bid on the project. The total cost for building Armstrong Hall – including site development, utilities, design fees, equipment, furnishings and other construction-related items – is expected to be about $53.2 million.
The new building will house the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the School of Materials Engineering and the Department of Engineering Education. Armstrong Hall also will be home to a number of engineering programs, including the Minorities in Engineering Program, Women in Engineering Program and Engineering Projects in Community Service.
The state is funding $37.7 million of the cost for Armstrong Hall, with most of the rest being provided by private gifts.
The building will have 126,000 assignable square feet that will include more than 20,000 square feet dedicated to research labs and more than 60,000 square feet of undergraduate teaching facilities, including discipline-specific design labs. In the classrooms, Armstrong Hall will feature learning spaces that facilitate student teamwork, especially for design work, one of the most important facets of engineering education.
The Caterpillar Inc. Learning Modules in Armstrong Hall will support research and hands-on learning experiences, and classrooms will be located adjacent to labs and discussion areas in order to facilitate small-group work.
In addition to improving undergraduate education, the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics is focusing on strengthening and investing in its core areas, such as aerodynamics, structures and materials, dynamics and control, and propulsion.
The space provided by Armstrong Hall will allow the School of Materials Engineering to double its undergraduate enrollment to 125 students and triple the graduate enrollment to 90 students. Faculty size also will grow to accommodate the increase in student numbers and to position the school as a leader in materials research, particularly in the fields of processing, manufacturing and nanoscale technology.
The Department of Engineering Education was created in April as the first of its kind in the nation. Purdue's freshman engineering and interdisciplinary engineering programs also are part of the new department.
Purdue's Department of Engineering Education initially is focusing on research and outreach programs, but officials plan to have a program in place by 2006 that will permit high school teachers to become certified to teach engineering courses at the secondary school level. In addition, teachers will be qualified to teach mathematics, physics and other sciences and have the knowledge to bring engineering concepts into the classroom.
Purdue's College of Engineering is made up of 12 academic programs: aeronautics and astronautics, agricultural and biological, biomedical, chemical, civil, construction engineering and management, electrical and computer, engineering education, industrial, materials, mechanical, and nuclear.
Purdue's College of Engineering includes more than 6,400 undergraduate students and almost 2,500 graduate students.
Writer: Jeanne Norberg, (765) 494-2084, jnorberg@purdue.edu
Sources: Morgan R. Olsen, (765) 494-9705, mrolsen@purdue.edu
Eugene Hatke, senior architect, (765) 494-3436, erhatke@purdue.edu
Related release:
Purdue launching Neil Armstrong Hall for engineering's future
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