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June 10, 2002

High-profile projects nearing completion

By Eric Rangus erangus@emory.edu


Construction is a fact of life 365 days a year on the Emory campus, but in summertime, when few classes are in session and the bustle of the academic year abates, building takes on a fresh importance.

Small, intense projects are begun and completed in a matter of weeks, and large efforts often move ahead so far that people returning to campus in the fall may not recognize the buildings they saw when they left campus in May.

Dozens of projects are ongoing around Emory, ranging from road construction on Fraternity Row to the renovation of Candler Library. Some of the more high-profile work is highlighted below.

Candler Library
Abatement work to rid Candler Library’s interior of lead paint and asbestos has just been completed. Next, the windows—which contain lead paint—will have to be replaced. Excavation for the 9,600-square-foot addition to Candler Library will continue.

Because of the library’s location in the center of campus, traffic tie-ups involved with the construction have been commonplace. Things have eased with the coming of summer, but according to project manager Terry Bozeman, one car making a dropoff at the hospital can stop traffic in all directions.

“We’ll have people working as flaggers to make sure traffic doesn’t block the curbs,” he said. The flaggers also will keep an eye on pedestrians to make sure they don’t wander into the worksite.

When the renovation is complete, the library will house classroom space, faculty offices, the African-American studies program, and administrative offices for Emory College and the Graduate School.

Candler Library also will be the first renovated building on campus to qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) status. The recently completed Whitehead Research Building is Emory’s other LEED-certified building.

Clairmont Campus
Construction is ongoing all over University Apartments. With the dorms opening to students beginning in the fall, building inspections are ongoing. In some wings furniture is being installed.

At the Student Activities and Academic Center, which will be a campus centerpiece, steel framing, trusses and the metal deck are being installed. Concrete for the 50-meter swimming pool has been poured, while the lap pool is being excavated.

Mathematics and Science Center
Along with the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, the building formerly known as Science 2000, Phase II is perhaps the highest profile construction going on at the main campus.

The Mathematics and Science Center will be completed for the start of the fall semester. Tenants are scheduled to begin moving into the building on July 15.

Already the building is taking its final shape. Work on the interior is being wrapped up, while landscaping and final roadwork are being finished outside the building.

Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts
Like the Mathematics and Science Center across campus, the performing arts center is nearing completion.

“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” said project manager Stuart Adler. “I think everyone will be really happy with the building when it’s finished.”

Much of the work this summer will involve the inside of the building. The orchestra and percussion lifts will be installed. So will the chorale risers, the performance flooring and the audience seating. The center’s state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment will be installed as well.

On the outside, the building’s stone veneer will be completed and all of the windows installed. The fencing surrounding the building will be removed in September and the landscaping finished.

In the fall, acousticians will fine-tune the building’s acoustics. “They treat the building itself like an instrument,” Adler said. Come November, the building’s tenants will start moving in.

Winship Cancer Institute
The Winship Cancer Institute’s new building held its “topping out” ceremony, May 22, signifying the placement of the final iron beam, which completed the construction of the building’s exterior. Work on the building, which is due to open July 2003, is now in the homestretch.

“Most everything now will be internal to the building,” said project manager Steve Lange. Work on the sheetrock, ductwork and plumbing is currently a main focus.