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Vol. 24, No. 1
OTHER RELATED LINKS:
Published weekly during the academic year by the Office of Communications and Marketing, 3699 Vestal Parkway East, Vestal, N.Y. 13850. Anita Doll, interim associate vice president of communications and marketing; Marty Doorey, editor; Sandra Paniccia, layout editor; Katie Ellis, Janice Endresen, Gail Glover, Susan E. Barker, Karen Fennie, John Hartrick, Ingrid Husisian, Susann Thiel, Lee Shepherd, contributing writers; Evangelos Dousmanis, photography; Libby Graves, webmaster. Phone 607-777-6366. COMMENTS: Email Inside. BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY
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| Construction of two residence halls in a complex being built between Hinman College and College-in-the-Woods is progressing steadily. Workers have completed about 75 percent of the steel framing of the first hall and are working on interior framing for several floors. Construction of a second building will begin in September. Construction of these buildings will be completed by September 2003. Plans also call for two additional residence halls to be built on the site with completion scheduled for September 2004. | ||
By Karen Fennie
Mach Architecture and Engineering, the firm that designed the first two buildings of the new residential community now under construction, has been selected to design the next two buildings in the complex.
Architects for the community’s dining hall have also been selected. Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn of New York City and Bearsch Compeau Knudson of Binghamton will provide the design. The firms were selected following interviews in Albany with University officials and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY).
Larry Roma, associate vice president of facilities management, said Mach was chosen to design the additional residential buildings because of the quality of their proposal.
“They took meeting the schedule into consideration by having appropriate staff assigned and their experience in phase I of the project is invaluable to meeting the project deadline,” Roma said.
Mach provided perspective drawings and a CD “fly over” presentation and a model of the completed community. (They can be found at facilities.binghamton.edu/sh.htm.) The first two buildings will be completed by fall 2003, the entire project will be finished by fall 2004.
The Ehrenkrantz and Bearsch firms were chosen for the dining hall because they demonstrated a thorough understanding of the complexities of designing and constructing the facility within time constraints, Roma said.
Because of the aggressive construction schedule, the University is using a unique approach for phase II construction. The time usually taken to bid and award the contract will be eliminated, and a construction manager will be hired to oversee construction of the two residential halls and dining hall.
In addition, the University was able to obtain funding for the dining hall through DASNY. Dining halls traditionally are constructed by the State University Construction Fund and paid for with funds from capital plans. The next capital plan will not be in place until at least 2004 — too late to facilitate the design and construction in concert with the completion of the residential halls. After research, it was discovered that DASNY is allowed to bond for and construct the dining hall. The bonds will be paid off through room rates.
Work on the first two residential halls is on track. The steel frame of the first building is about 75 percent complete and crews are also completing the framing of the fifth floor, working on decking the fourth floor and framing the roof. Steel work will begin on the second building in the beginning of September.
Workers also recently cleared the site of the next two buildings. Work over the summer also involved installing a sanitary sewer and storm water lines for the complex.
Renovation of Hinman Dining Hall is expected to begin at the end of this semester, lasting through fall 2003. The second floor of the building will be gutted. New stairways and new food preparation and serving areas will be built. A new sprinkler system, ceilings, flooring, service elevator and heating and lighting systems are also included. A new convenience store is part of the second phase of the renovation. The project will increase the seating capacity of Hinman Dining Hall. Hinman students will use the University Union Mini Mall during the renovations.
Elsewhere, the Field House is about 65 percent complete. Masons continue to work on the exterior and windows are being installed. On the interior, mechanical and general construction activity is progressing. The contractual completion date of the Field House is April 2004.