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Science Building plan moves ahead
New space needed, construction costs increase $39 million
By Jessie Yale
jyale@mscd.edu

Photo courtesy of Anderson Mason Dale Architects One of the first model renderings of the new science building site. The structure would face Speer Boulevard and create a corridor between North Classroom and the new building.

After a $39 million increase in building costs and years of planning, the Auraria Higher Education Center will soon begin constructing a new science building.

“This building is long overdue. We are getting out of the financial doldrums of the last few years, and I’m glad to be moving forward,” said Dean Wolf, executive vice president of AHEC.

“We have great support for funding from both the legislature and the governor’s office,” Wolf said.
The original 2004 program plan for the old science building remodel and new science building construction had an estimated cost of $65 million, while the most recent plan has been approved at $104 million.

The cost increase is mainly due to the rise in construction costs, Wolf said.

“Since the 2004 plan there has been a 0.8 to 1.25 percent increase (per month) in the cost of construction and building materials, and the costs reflect what the campus needs,” he said.

According to Wolf, the old science building is inadequate for both space and for maintaining a safe environment for students and faculty.

The new science building, along with the remodeled old building, will be large enough to encompass the expected 50 percent faculty growth, 30 percent enrollment growth for biology and chemistry and the 10 percent growth for the other science departments for all three schools, according to the most recent project plan. It will also include enough storage space to meet the declared need.

“Basically the new building will be aimed towards the biology and chemistry (departments), with a small amount of new space for other sciences,” said architect David Harman of Anderson Mason Dale Architects, the firm handling the science building design.

According to Anderson Mason Dale architect David Phifer, the plan includes not only the new science building with 200,000 square feet of new space, but also a light remodel of the 118,000-square-foot old science building.

“There will be dramatic upgrades with up-to-date technology, including new chemical storage cabinets, hoods, vents, basically all new guts,” Phifer said. “There will be really high-performance undergraduate student labs and standard research labs.”

According to the project plan, 24 percent of lab space and equipment will be unique to each lab. Decisions on audio-video equipment will be discussed once the final status of the project and funding is considered.

The exact location of the new building is still under consideration.

“We are dealing with boundary issues between where the line is between the city’s land and Auraria’s, and also with where the underground utility lines are,” Phifer said.

Construction will begin when issues with funding, location and design are resolved.

"The funding is not given all at once. It’s spread out over time, so we are trying to resolve how that will impact the construction,” Phifer said.

According to Auraria facilities manager Dick Feuerborn, there will be a lot of shuffling around once the new building is finished. “The people in the old building will be moved into the new building until the remodel of the old building is done,” he said. “It will be hard, but people are just going to have to remember what the end result is.”