Butler construction on schedule

At present, the buildings are roughly 25 percent complete, Bill Zahn, senior project manager for Butler construction, said in an e-mail.

“The project is on schedule for occupancy by the fall of 2009,” Zahn said.

So far, the foundation of the entire complex has been completed, Zahn explained, adding that the east wing of the structure has been finished as well. The rest of the complex will be finished by early June, he said.

In May, work will begin on the buildings’ “green” roofs, which will be covered with foliage to offset the new construction’s effects on drainage.

“The benefit of a green roof is that it retains rainwater,” University architect Jon Hlafter ’61 explained at an open house in the Wu Private Dining Room last week. “Because water is retained in the plants, it takes a lot longer for that water to get to Lake Carnegie.”

Most of the external brick and limestone work should be done by the end of summer, at which point landscaping will take over as the priority, Zahn said, adding that most of the work on the interior of the buildings will be done over the winter.

The new Butler buildings will consist of some of the largest bedrooms on campus and feature an underground complex with a late-night cafe and several lounges, Hlafter said at last week’s meeting.

Butler College Dean David Stirk said that he was excited by the amphitheatre that will be constructed in the eastern courtyard of the new complex.

“I can imagine that when the weather’s nice, outdoor concerts and outdoor performances will happen there,” he said. “I feel really good about the programming spaces. That’s something that’s really been missing for Butler.”

Stirk said that the late-night meals served at Butler might draw students from all over lower campus to the new complex and thus make it a “more cosmopolitan college.”

Though Butler has had little oversight of the buildings since the design phase ended and the construction began, Stirk said he was “very impressed by the pace of the building.”

“We’re hoping that the heavy-duty construction will be far enough along [by the time students get back] that it will be less noticeable and less noisy,” he said.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Apart from the new dorms, Butler will see a number of other improvements in the next few years. During the summer, Wu Hall will be renovated with new furniture, lighting and other aesthetic improvements.

In summer 2009, the Butler and Wilson College serveries will be completely renovated and combined in the same manner as the Rockefeller and Mathey College dining halls were combined during the summer of last year.