November 4, 2005

Purdue moves ahead on Discovery Park projects, Windsor renovation

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue University Board of Trustees today (Friday, Nov. 4) authorized spending more than $75 million for construction of two Discovery Park and five residence hall buildings on the West Lafayette campus.

The board approved the use of $10 million from gifts and endowment income for construction of the Discovery Learning Center in Discovery Park. The new building will include 35,000 square feet for faculty and students who research new approaches to teaching and learning science, technology, engineering and math. BSA LifeStructures, Indianapolis, received the $1 million design contract last year.

"The center already has been extremely successful in securing over $17 million to fund innovative science and technology learning initiatives," said Beverly Davenport Sypher, interim director of the Discovery Learning Center. "Our goal is to translate research findings into education that builds skill sets for the knowledge economy. The Lilly-funded internships in Indiana startup companies and in interdisciplinary research teams at Discovery Park make important contributions to our efforts."

The largest item the trustees approved was a $53 million project to renovate and upgrade five buildings that make up Windsor Halls, an undergraduate women's residence complex. The phased, five-year project, to be completed in 2011, will add air conditioning to the complex, replace all elevators, renovate student rooms and community bathrooms, add rooms to unused attic space, and increase fire protection and handicap accessibility. Measures will be taken to preserve the buildings' architectural history. Veazey Parrott Durkin & Shoulders, with offices in Indianapolis and Evansville, is the project architect.

The Windsor project is part of an overall University Residences master plan that includes an ongoing $55 million renovation of Cary Quad that will be completed next summer and planned construction of a new $60 million, 542-bed housing complex. Other selected residence halls will receive air conditioning and all residence halls are receiving upgraded fire protection.

"Students and parents recognize the vital role the residential experience plays in making a successful transition to college," said John A. Sautter, vice president for housing and food services. "We have the largest college housing operation in the country that allows students to make their own housing choice, yet nearly 90 percent of this year's freshman class chose to live in university residences. These kinds of improvements preserve on-campus housing as an attractive choice."

The board also increased funding for the e-Enterprise Center in Discovery Park from $10 million to $12.4 million and awarded the general contact to Kettlehut Construction Co., Lafayette. The scope of the project remains the same but competitive bids came in higher than expected last month, said Wayne Kjonaas, vice president for physical facilities. The additional money will come from endowment income and gifts.

The center will include more than 49,000 square feet for multidisciplinary research projects. The building also will house a number of centers and initiatives already operating at Purdue, including the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Center for Research on Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS), and parts of Information Technology at Purdue and the Homeland Security Institute.

Architects from Brenner Design of Indianapolis were previously commissioned to design the e-enterprise building to be compatible with the center's Discovery Park neighbor, the existing Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

In an additional move to improve physical facilities, the board approved a finance committee recommendation to purchase a pollution and emission control system from SP Environmental Inc. of Pittsburgh. The $1.6 million device will be installed on Boiler No. 2 in the Wade Utility Plant on the West Lafayette campus to help comply with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations for mercury and particulate emission control.

On Thursday (Nov. 3), the Physical Facilities Committee approved two projects that did not require full board consideration:

• Financing and remodeling of the School of Veterinary Medicine's Junior Surgery Suite in the basement of Lynn Hall on the West Lafayette campus. The Rosk Group Inc. of Indianapolis was selected to provide a redesign to improve ergonomics and cleanliness. The $992,000 project also will provide HEPA-filtered air flow for the facility.

• The use of $700,000 in repair and rehabilitation funds to partially replace the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in the 140,000-square-foot, 55-year-old Gyte Building at Purdue University Calumet. The change will offer better control of the temperature and humidity in the building that houses science laboratories and classrooms. In April, BSA LifeStructures was selected to provide the design.

Writer: Jim Schenke, (765) 494-6262, jschenke@purdue.edu

Sources: Martin C. Jischke, (765) 494-9708, mcjischke@purdue.edu

Morgan R. Olsen, (765) 494-9705, mrolsen@purdue.edu

John A. Sautter, (765) 494-1022, jasautter@purdue.edu

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

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