Open house to provide info on construction projects
Campus, community can learn about Stanley, Davis hall plans

By Marie Felde, Public Affairs

An illustration shows the new Stanley Hall in relation to Hearst Memorial Mining Building.

25 April 2001 | A campus and community open house — on plans to replace Stanley Hall and other projects to support the work of the Health Sciences Initiative and the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society — will be held Thursday, May 3.

The informal gathering will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Wozniak Lounge of Soda Hall. It will feature faculty who will be using the new facilities as well as campus professionals providing details about the buildings planning, design, construction and environmental impacts.

The replacement of Stanley Hall, Old Davis Hall, and construction of a smaller Soda Hall expansion building are among the key features of the projects.

The open house will provide information on plans to renovate and seismically strengthen the Naval Architecture Building along with Davis Hall. Parking and landscaping issues will also be addressed.

The projects are being analyzed comprehensively in the environmental review process with an environmental impact report being prepared in accordance with state law. A draft EIR could be available by mid-May.

The aim of the projects, which add a net of about 327,000 square feet to the campus and total 430,000 square feet, is to provide seismically safe buildings in which to study and work and to create modern learning and research spaces that foster interdisciplinary collaboration.

The largest project in the effort is the replacement of Stanley Hall. Construction is expected to take about three years from demolition to final landscaping, following environmental review and approval from the Board of Regents.

The replacement of Stanley will increase the size of the science building from 67,500 square feet to 285,000 square feet. Completed in 1952, the existing Stanley Hall is rated seismically poor and its laboratory and research space is inadequate to meet the needs of modern health sciences research and teaching.

The new building will provide facilities for vibration-free laboratories, clean rooms, and high-resolution imaging facilities. It will house faculty and students engaged in new work on such health problems as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, AIDS and spinal-cord injuries.

A related proposal would convert the top level of a parking structure on the campus perimeter from recreational space to parking, to reduce parking pressure on the neighborhoods surrounding the project sights.