Tag: Simon Hall renovations

With free coffee and Einstein Bros. breakfast treats for all, students, faculty, and staff celebrated the renovations of Simon Hall that were completed over the summer.  Chancellor Wrighton, Dean Gupta, Provost Holden Thorp, and Vice Chancellor Hank Webber cut a red ribbon to mark the event at a ceremony in Piper Grand Hallway (formerly known as Flag Hallway) on the first day of classes for undergrads, Monday, August 25, 2014. Hear their comments and watch the ceremony on the video.

Olin’s undergraduate program will be based in Simon Hall with administrative offices on the first floor. This is Phase I of a three phase renovation plan that will take place over the next two summers.

Summer is almost over and that means the Tarlton Construction team only has a few more weeks to complete Phase One renovations at Simon Hall. This is the July sneak peek behind the scenes at the work taking place in the eastern half of Simon on the lower level, Flag Hallway, and the Library. Check back for another video this week on the transformation of May Auditorium.

If you think campus is a quiet and peaceful haven for faculty and graduate students during the summer, think again! From Skinker to Big Bend, the Danforth Campus is buzzing with construction activity.

As soon as Commencement ceremonies concluded, our friends from Tarlton began the first phase of renovations in Simon Hall. This will be a three-phase project taking place over summer breaks to limit disruption during the academic year. The eastern half of Simon Hall is currently undergoing major demolition and re-configuration. As you can see in the video, May Auditorium, Flag Hallway, and the Kopolow Library are going to be transformed. The new BSBA offices, student lounge, and Einstein’s will be more open and spacious when everyone returns in the fall.

Sounds of drilling and hammering can also be heard inside Knight Hall and Bauer Hall, where the Bellwether classroom is being completed and the new café and much-anticipated Starbucks Café are being built.

To our west, crews are preparing the site for the new Sumers Recreation Center located on the south side of Francis Gymnasium, which will also undergo a major interior rejuvenation. Brown School’s new building is rising out of the ground to the east and you see several projects in between. Summer is construction season on campus!

I am looking forward to welcoming everyone back to campus in August and showing you our beautiful, renewed spaces for studying and collaborating with your peers and professors. In the meantime, enjoy your summer internships, research, and travels.

Grab your hard hat if you’re heading to Simon Hall. Renovation work begins Monday, May 19. Everything to the east of Simon’s main north-south corridor will be under construction this summer with the exception of the Skandalaris Center and CEL suite. Phase one is scheduled to be complete by August 15th. Phase two will occur in the Summer of 2015. See artist’s renderings of the renovations on the Building Olin website.

Artist’s rendering of the renovated Flag Hallway.

Construction activities will also impact the Simon Hall parking lot. A construction fence will be erected on Monday defining the area needed for construction equipment and materials. This area will be in the east half of the Simon Hall parking lot and will extend toward Forsyth to include the first two rows of parking. The road that connects the Simon Hall parking lot with the Danforth University Center will be blocked by the construction zone. Please note that the exit from the Simon Hall parking lot at Olympian Way is “Right Turn Only” so those needing to turn left on Forsyth when leaving campus will want to park in the DUC garage during the summer.

Inside Simon Hall, the areas under construction will be partitioned off from the rest of Simon for safety. As Simon’s elevator is within the construction zone, it will not be accessible. With regard to the general impact of construction on those in the west half of Simon, we are likely to experience some low levels of noise and vibration that will not interfere with normal conversation but will be noticeable background noise from time to time. We are most likely to notice this during the first few weeks of construction as demolition takes place.

Part of the renovation of Simon involves replacing original HVAC equipment with newer equipment that is much more energy efficient. The HVAC equipment that will be replaced serves the areas under construction and also a portion of the second floor that is not under construction (south bar and south half of west bar). To keep these second floor areas habitable over the summer, temporary HVAC equipment will be installed outside the building and will be hooked into Simon’s ductwork to provide conditioned air. As we transition to this temporary HVAC system, HVAC service to these parts of the second floor will be down from 5/19 through 5/21. We are hopeful that a combination of relatively mild temperatures and the work of the rest of the building’s HVAC systems will keep the affected areas comfortable during this three day outage.

Later in the summer, we will experience one or two planned power outages. These will be scheduled for off hours. We will provide as much advance notice as possible before these outages to avoid disruption of long running research computing processes. At present the dates of these outages are unknown.

Thanks to Brian Bannister for this update on the Simon Hall renovation.