In 2014, Ohio State will open a sophisticated new chemistry building that administrators say will make the university’s science programs more competitive.
The $126 million Chemical Biomolecular and Engineering and Chemistry building will replace a hodgepodge of old and in some cases dangerous science labs and classrooms. The chemical engineering side of the building will be called Koffolt Lab. The Chemistry Department has not chosen a name for its side of the building yet.
The new facility will “make recruiting easier at every level,” said Stuart Cooper, chair of the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering. “What we have now can be a disadvantage.”
A modern building will attract graduate students, freshmen and faculty. Administrators hope to increase faculty from 18 to 22, he said.
The building will include new laboratories for multiple sciences, instructional spaces and building support, according to a Facilities Operations and Development report in November.
The building project has been in the works since 2002, but will finally be put into motion by June 2011 with the demolition of Boyd Lab, Johnston Lab, the Aviation building and Haskett Hall.
The Chemical Biomolecular and Engineering Department has submitted campus proposals and feasibility reports since 2002, Cooper said. The Chemistry Department had also submitted a proposal for a new building to Facilities Operations and Development and conducted a feasibility study and report about renovating Evans Lab. University officials decided that the best option was to construct a building for both departments.
“We’ve been putting in requests and getting further and further along in the queue,” Cooper said. They also put in requests through the college in 2004, 2006 and 2008, he added.
“When they tore Lord Hall down, we were showing potential donors, ‘This is where we are going to be,'” Cooper said.
Administrators changed their mind on the building location after officials released a master plan study about a long-term vision for the university, he added.
In 2007, it was decided that the best preliminary site for the new science building was between Woodruff and 19th avenues, Cooper said. This was based on the location of the building and the “bad shape” of the buildings being torn down. The site of Haskett Hall was also included in the new plan, which increased the overall space for the new building.
Moving the building’s location frees up the Lord Hall site to be used as an English or arts building, Cooper said.
The building’s location furthers the university’s academic plan.
“The current location aligns with the principals from the Academic Facilities Plan and the One University Framework by reducing the university’s deferred maintenances,” said project manager Faye Bodyke, in an e-mail. The building “creates alignment with [the] sciences and engineering neighborhood.”
