Remodeling the Industrial Sciences Building
Honoring the Past, Building for the Future

When the Industrial Sciences (IS) Building remodel is complete, the 123-year-old ediice will show off some of its original architectural character, don a sliver of green roof, and sport a courtyard with an expansive view toward the historic Oval around which the Colorado State campus was built. Even more, the new and improved IS Building will feature learning spaces, laboratories, technology, equipment, and courses that will fortify students' understanding of construction management — and empower them with knowledge and skill sets essential to the pre-construction process.

The project is the first building transformation in which industry partners are helping to design the new spaces and contribute to related course content in ways that replicate the real construction world as closely as possible.

"While the IS Building's beautiful historical elements are being restored, the building is also being updated as an environment that mimics where the industry is today," says Ed Haselden, a lead contributor to the project.

The project has created an enthusiastic synergy between higher education and the construction industry, says CM Department Head Larry Grosse. Renderings of the remodel, unveiled in May at the 60th Anniversary Ram Built Gala, drew an excited response from industry members, Dean April Mason, and University President Larry Edward Penley. Mike Haselden, vice president and chief executive oficer of Haselden Construction, LLC, and Bruce Ferguson, chairman of the board of Gerald Phipps, Inc., each stepped forward to announce their respective gifts for named rooms in the IS Building and to encourage other companies to participate in a project that will beneit the construction industry.

The transformation process

Designed to honor the best of the old and create the best of the new, the IS Building remodel will include preservation, sustainability, restoration, and renovation. "Those opportunities don't come along every day," says Phil Scott of H+L Architecture. The Denver irm has produced drawings of many of the building's key interior and exterior areas.

The three-phased project began two summers ago when Gerald H. Phipps, Inc., pledged funds for a named lecture hall. Ferguson, '66, a member of the department's Professional Advisory andDevelopment Board, also volunteered his time to manage the project, hoping to stimulate the involvement of more industry partners.

Last summer, renovation work started with the conversion of an old second- story classroom into a new computer laboratory. Students and faculty workedtogether to expose an original skylight that had been hidden by layers of plywood and created wooden beams to cover conduit.

"We're restoring the warmth and openness of the building's original wooden beams and vaulted ceilings and bringing other attractive elements back into view," says Grosse. "We've painted the walls in the computer lab a soft forest green and muted gold, which are reminiscent of the original Aggie colors." Modern elements blend harmoniously with the old.

"This project is a real opportunity for the industry and the University to come together in a public- private partnership to create a facility and inluence a curriculum for the benefit of an industry." — Ed Haselden, President, Haselden Construction, LLC

Learning by doing

The remodel itself will serve as a hands- on learning experience for students. "We'll use as many environmentally conscientious means, methods, and materials as we can," says architect Phil Scott. "Brian Dunbar and his students will document and research procedures and materials, so the building can attain a certain level of LEED certification. Chris Koziol, director of the department's Architectural Preservation Institute, has researched the building's history, and he and his graduate students are contributing to the restoration work."

One of the building's most exciting new spaces will be the Haselden Construction, LLC, Pre-Construction Laboratory.

Earlier this year, Ed Haselden invited Colorado State faculty and administrators to tour Haselden Construction's pre-construction department. Pre-construction, says Haselden, is the other planning and preparation that goes into a project at the same time a building is being designed. "This includes marketing, presentations, communications, negotiations, understanding the psychology of what inluences people's decisions, and how your company differentiates itself," Haselden explains.

The pre-construction area is designed to be a collaborative environment that encourages teamwork. The new Haselden Construction, LLC, Pre- Construction Laboratory will be a large open space with six small ofices designed for ive-student teams that each will work on a project from the point of conception to the start of construction.

Enhancing course content

The IS Building remodel provides participating companies with an opportunity not only to contribute to a great functional working environment, but also to help inluence and strengthen the overall curriculum so students will learn what they need to know to meet the industry's current and future needs. Haselden, who serves on the Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System, looks forward to contributing to a senior capstone class in which students will learn and practice all the pre-construction skill sets needed before a shovel of dirt is overturned. "What's so exciting for me," says Haselden, "is that we are helping to create a great space and helping to steer curriculum development in ways that will come back to serve the industry."

Key Features of the IS Building Remodel

• The Haselden Construction, LLC, Pre- Construction Laboratory, where students will prepare and rehearse project presentations in a collaborative work environment.

• The Gerald H. Phipps, Inc., Lecture Hall, where students will attend lectures and make presentations.

• Two large computer classrooms with interactive teaching stations.

• New ofices for the Architectural Preservation Institute and the Institute for the Built Environment and other CM faculty.

• A section of green roof that will serve as a teaching tool for how rainwater is captured and drained.

• A courtyard developed into a pre-function space, for presentations, social and networking activities, fund-raising functions, and more.

• Exposed building elements, to show electrical and mechanical distribution, construction methods, and monitoring devices.