Classes begin inside new UW-Madison chemistry building
Students returning to class for the spring semester last week at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were greeted with a new academic building at the heart of campus.
Inside UW-Madison’s new Chemistry Tower: modern labs, study spaces and a ‘library of the future’
Goodbye, crowded chemistry labs. So long to space crunches so severe that some 20% of UW-Madison students took introductory organic chemistry at a different university. UW-Madison opened its gleaming nine-story Chemistry Tower to students this semester after months of construction delays. The new building at 1101 University Ave. will ease enrollment bottlenecks that have plagued the department for decades.
Construction Update 08/24/2020
New Tower. There is lots of activity on the tower rooftop where curbs are being set around the periphery and roofing is being installed to prevent incursion of water. In the sub-basement and fifth floor …
Construction Update 07/27/2020
Fire Protection. Fire protection work is going on in both Shain and Mathews first floors this week. Because of the work in Shain, the main entrance to Shain tower is closed all this week. Please …
Construction Update 07/20/2020
New Tower. There is more to see in the new tower, from sub-basement to ninth-floor mechanical penthouse. Upper floors of the tower continue to be built out, with studs installed for walls from the fifth …
Construction Update 07/13/2020
A Walk Around the Chemistry Block. From almost every angle the exterior appearance of the chemistry-building complex has been altered by the construction project. From the south, Daniels has been extended upward by the huge …
Construction Update 05/11/2020
This week’s presentation at the department meeting chronicled progress on several projects the Facilities Committee has overseen. It provides a visual tour of the new chemistry tower from the sub-basement up to the ninth-floor mechanical …
Construction Update 04/20/2020
New Tower. The second big concrete pour on the ninth floor happened last Thursday, so all floors are now in place. The ninth floor is partly roof and partly mechanical space. The mechanical space will …
Construction Update 04/13/2020
New Tower. In the sub-basement the large lecture rooms are taking shape with concrete poured for some of the tiers of seats. Shoring is in place for the lower part of the monumental staircase that …
Construction Update 04/06/2020
New Tower. Work in the new tower continues. The remaining concrete for the eighth floor was poured last week and the west side of the ninth floor (mechanical area and roof) is ready for concrete …
Construction Update 03/23/2020
COVID-19. Although the department has shut down due to the COVID-19 situation, we thought it would be helpful to continue to supply information about the progress of various construction projects—at least to provide as much …
Construction Update 03/02/2020
New Tower. Last week was incredibly productive. Concrete was poured for the west side of the seventh floor on Thursday. On Friday, the area of the sixth floor below the new pour was above 90 …
Construction Update 02/24/2020
Mock-up. The mock-up in parking lot 45, across Mills Street from the power plant, was tested for water tightness last Tuesday and passed a slightly more stringent test than was required (12 psi versus 10 …
Construction Update 02/17/2020
CLC Renovation. Renovation of part of the fourth floor of the Medical Sciences Center (MSC) for the Chemistry Leaning Center (CLC) continues on schedule. Plans are underway to move the CLC in the middle of …
Construction Update 02/10/2020
New Tower. The view from the top of our new tower is great and gets better every couple weeks as a new floor is added. Concrete will have been poured for the west side of …
Construction Update 02/03/2020
Crawler Crane Luffer Jib. Since last Thursday Mills Street has been completely closed from Johnson Street to University Avenue so that a luffer jib can be added to the large red crawler crane that has …
Construction Update 01/27/2020
Lab Mock-up. A sampling of representative fume hoods, lab counters and casework, cabinets, sinks, and cabinets has been available since Wednesday of last week for examination by those who will be overseeing our new laboratory …
Construction Update 01/13/2020
Daniels Eighth Floor. Installation of sprinklers began last week and is proceeding according to plan. Last Monday morning about a dozen people from the construction team, FP&M, and chemistry checked that the eighth floor was …
Construction Update 01/06/2020
New Tower. While many of us have been celebrating holidays the construction team has been working hard to raise our tower higher and higher. What they had achieved by the end of the year is …
Notice 12/17/2019: Driveway Inaccessible 12/19
The construction schedule has been revised, again; the driveway to the chemistry loading dock will be inaccessible on Thu Dec 19th. A concrete pump truck will be used to pour a portion of the floor …
Construction Update 12/16/2019
From a Year Ago…to Now It has been almost exactly a year since gross demolition began on the northern part of the Daniels wing: The old lecture rooms, some classrooms, parts of some labs, and …
Construction Update 12/09/2019
New Tower. There is a lot happening in the new tower than cannot be seen from the loading dock or other locations in our existing building—and a lot that can be seen. Last week concrete …
Construction Update 12/02/2019
New Tower. In the two weeks since the last newsletter the tower has continued to grow rapidly. Flatbed truckloads of bubble-deck arrive on a regular basis, columns are being poured and extended above the second-floor …
Construction Update 11/18/2019
New Tower. There has been more snow and more cold weather, but construction of the tower is moving ahead rapidly, nevertheless. All concrete for the first floor has now been poured, with the last section completed …
Construction Update 11/11/2019
New Tower. Despite the snow, melting snow, and cold weather, a lot of work has been done on the tower this past week. Last Thursday concrete was poured for the second-floor area that will become …
Notice 11/11/2019: Traffic Changes
Next week will bring a significant change to the traffic pattern around the chemistry complex. A portion of Mills St will be completely closed until summer 2020. The construction team needs to place a large …
Notice 11/06/2019: Driveway Inaccessible 11/7 & 11/11
The driveway to the chemistry loading dock will be inaccessible on Thu Nov 7th and Mon Nov 11th. On Thursday, a concrete pump truck will be used to pour a portion of the floor slab for …
Construction Update 11/04/2019
New Tower. The loading dock was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday last week for backfilling of gravel around the sub-basement and basement walls. Unfortunately, weather has slowed installation of waterproofing and insulation on the upper …
Notice 11/01/2019: Loading Dock Closure
The driveway to the chemistry loading dock will be inaccessible on Tue Nov 5th and Thu Nov 7th. On Tuesday, construction crews will be using a conveyer system to back-fill around the foundation walls on …
Notice 11/01/2019: Shutdown
The construction team needs to make a brief shutdown to the natural gas service to the Daniels wing – TODAY – Fri Nov 1st. The outage will commence at approximately 10:00 am and last approximately 2-3 …
Construction Update 10/28/2019
New Tower. The tower is now rising above ground level and preparations are being made for pouring concrete for the part of the second floor that will become the new information commons (library). Much shoring …
Notice 10/23/2019: Loading Dock Closure 10/29-10/30
The driveway to the chemistry loading dock will be inaccessible on Tue Oct 29th and Wed Oct 30th. Construction crews will be using a conveyor system to back-fill around the foundation walls on the west …
Notice 10/23/2019: Driveway Inaccessible 10/29-10/30
The driveway to the chemistry loading dock will be inaccessible on Tue Oct 29th and Wed Oct 30th. Construction crews will be using a conveyer system to back-fill around the foundation walls on the west …
Construction Update 10/21/2019
New Tower. There was a lot of activity in the new tower last week. We now have additional concrete floors and extensions of concrete columns above the basement and first-floor levels, concrete walls up …
Construction Update 10/14/2019
New Tower. The big news last week was the largest concrete pour of the project—almost 11 hours long. Last Thursday, from 4 am to about 3 pm a concrete pump truck in the loading-dock area …
Construction Update 10/07/2019
New Tower. The new tower area looks completely different from what you saw in the last newsletter. Shoring and concrete forms now cover much of the basement and first-floor areas in preparation for pouring concrete …
Construction Update 09/30/2019
New Tower. A lot has been accomplished in the excavation during the past two weeks. (There was no newsletter September 16, so this report covers two weeks.) Concrete was poured Thursday afternoon and evening in …
Construction Update 09/16/2019
Daniels Sub-basement. The new rooms in the Daniels sub-basement that will house a new emergency generator and other electrical equipment were finished some weeks ago. Last week workers were installing conduit ducts that will carry …
Construction Update 09/08/2019
New Tower. Erection of rebar and concrete forms for walls of the east (Mills Street side) stairwell and the elevator shafts continued last week. After the bases of these walls are poured, waterproofing will be …
Construction Update 09/03/2019
New Tower. Last week concrete was finally poured for what will be part of the basement floor in the tower. After being postponed from the week before, scheduled for Tuesday, rescheduled for Wednesday, and re-rescheduled, …
Construction Update 08/26/2019
Chemistry Learning Center. We are happy to report that bids are in for the new facilities of the Chemistry Learning Center (CLC). The general contractor will be Advanced Building Corporation. Their bid was very slightly …
Construction Update 08/12/2019
New Tower. Progress was modest during the past week. The major accomplishment involved work in the sub-basement of the Daniels building. Construction of the rooms that will contain the electrical sub-station for the new tower …
Construction Update 08/05/2019 – Loading Dock Closure 8/7
New Tower. The main activity of the past week was the preparation for a day-long session (4:30 am – 4:30 pm) of pouring concrete on Wed July 31st. The first major section to be poured …
Notice 7/31/2019: Loading Dock Closure
The closure of the chemistry loading dock, originally scheduled for 4:00am – 10:30am on Wed July 31st, has been rescheduled for 4:15am – 11:00am on Thurs Aug 1st. – Bob McMahon
Construction Update 07/23/2019
New Tower. During the past two weeks concrete has been poured in the sub-basement level for some of the columns that will hold the weight of the nine floors above. Concrete has also been poured …
Construction Update 07/08/2019
New Tower. Because of the holiday, last week was a three-day work week, so there is less to report than usual. Work continues in the sub-basement and on the trusses that were installed last week …
Construction Update 07/01/2019
New Tower. A second set of trusses, each weighing about 73,500 pounds, has been successfully installed. These trusses span the 250-seat lecture room and will support the weight of eight stories of the northeast corner …
Construction Update 06/24/2019
Mills Street and University Avenue. From 7 pm, Friday, June 28 through late Sunday, June 30, Mills Street will be closed and traffic will be reduced to two lanes in University Avenue. This is necessitated …
Construction Update 06/17/2019
New Tower. The new tower is rising rapidly. The sequence of photos below, which starts about a month ago, show the rapid rise of the stairwell that will serve the west side of the new …
Construction Update 06/03/2019
New Tower. Most of the excitement this week involved installation of two 50-ton trusses and several cross members on the steel columns that were erected several weeks ago. This process began with preparation of gravel …
Construction Update 05/28/2019
Tower Crane. The tower crane is up! On Friday night, all day Saturday, and through Sunday afternoon a crew of about a dozen Miron workers spent their Memorial Day weekend finishing the crane that will …
Construction Update 05/20/2019
Tower excavation. This week our building really began to take shape; there was lots of activity in the excavation area and part the structure is now almost as high as the fourth floor of Daniels. …
Construction Update 5/13/2019
Tower excavation—lots happening! Concrete has been poured for many of the footings and some of the walls for our new tower. Last week concrete footings were poured in the bottom of the pit for the …
Construction Update 5/6/2019
Tower Crane. Success! The tower, turntable, and cab of our tower crane were erected over the weekend. Friday night equipment was brought in and lanes were closed on University Avenue. Early Saturday morning the construction team …
Construction Update 4/29/2019
Charter Street. At long last Charter Street has been resurfaced! On Friday between about 10 am and 2 pm asphalt pavement was put down across the full width of the street. By mid-afternoon rollers had …
Notice 4/22/2019: Chemistry Loading Dock Inaccessible 4/25-4/28
The schedule of construction activities for this week has been revised: The loading dock will be inaccessible from 11:00 am – 5:00 pm on Thur Apr 25. The driveway and dock are needed for the …
Construction Update 4/22/2019
Charter Street. If all goes according to schedule, Charter Street will be partially resurfaced this week—on Wednesday. The plan is to blacktop one lane and use the remaining gravel for loading-dock access. The other lane …
Construction Update 4/15/2019
Reconfiguration of piping for natural gas service may cause a brief interruption of natural gas service in the Daniels wing sometime Monday morning. Because we use very little piped natural gas these days, this is …
Construction Update 4/8/2019
Great news this week: the preliminary plans and budget of $1.3 million for the new Chemistry Learning Center facility in the Medical Sciences Center were approved by the Board of Regents. Aro-Eberle architects and UW …
Construction Update 4/1/2019
The tower is now going up! So far most of what we have reported has been a downer—demolition took down the lecture halls and library and then a big hole when down into the ground. …
Construction Update 3/25/2019
The electrical and plumbing shutdown scheduled for Tuesday, March 19 went very smoothly. The work was completed successfully and the building re-opened three hours sooner than expected. If there are any problems remaining in any …
Construction Update 3/18/2019
Partial shutdown of electrical power systems in the chemistry complex – now confirmed for Tues Mar 19th from 2:00 am until 12:00 noon. New information regarding expanded scope of work: in addition to the power shutdown, the UW …
Construction Update 3/11/2019
Work continues along the corridors in the basement and first floor at the north end of Daniels. There is now a doorway in the middle of the entryway to the demo lab and the concrete-block …
Construction Update 1/28/2019
This week lots of work has been done on the Mills Street side of the building. The south area well is essentially complete, and forms to contain concrete pours are being moved from the south …
Construction Update 1/22/2019
Construction of our new instructional facility is now in full swing and a lot of workers are on the job. The photo below shows those who participated last Wednesday in the weekly safety meeting for …
Construction Update 1/14/2019
A lot is happening on the Mills Street side of our building. Excavations for area wells outside the organic labs have been extended to the sub-basement level and the area wells are being enlarged to …
Construction Update 1/7/2019
Gross demolition began Wednesday, December 19 on the part of the Daniels wing that housed the library and lecture rooms. Demolition has proceeded smoothly, beginning with the portico (where the bike racks used to be), …
Construction Notice 1/2/2019
The chemistry loading dock will be completely inaccessible on Thurs Jan 3rd because of the installation of the storm sewer for the new building. In the meantime, occupants of Shain Tower should not attempt to …
Construction Update 12/17/2018
It is exciting to approach another milestone in progress toward our new facility. This week we are ready for gross demolition and almost ready to regain access to the old driveway to the loading dock. …
Construction Update 12/03/2018
A lot will be happening on our new building this week. The wall separating us from the demolition/construction zone will be completed, demolition of the north end of Daniels will begin, and access to the …
Construction Update 11/19/2018
Progress has been made on construction of the permanent concrete masonry wall that will separate the north end of Daniels from demolition and construction. The wall, which will be permanent, will be waterproofed and insulated. …
Construction Update 11/12/2018
The heated restroom trailer outside the south exits from Daniels basement is now in operation. This clean, warm trailer is for UW-Madison students, staff, and faculty, to avoid crowding in the restrooms inside Daniels. It …
Construction Update 11/5/2018
These weekly construction updates are now available directly from the home page of the department website as well as appearing in the department newsletter and its online archive (http://chem.wisc.edu/newsletter). You can go directly to the …
Construction Update 10/29/2018
Today (Monday, October 29) occupants of Shain Tower are asked to be on a fire watch’: the fire sprinkler system will not be operable. Consider postponing any particularly hazardous procedures and be alert for fires. This …
Construction Update 10/22/2018
During the next couple of weeks, with very short notice of the exact date and time, we expect natural gas service to Daniels and Mathews wings to be shut off for up to half a day. If …
Construction Update 10/15/2018
In the north ends of Daniels floors B, 1 and 2, much work has been completed in preparation for constructing the new,permanent masonry wall that will separate our building from the demolition zone. We expect construction …
Construction Update 10/08/2018
Good news! This week we expect construction to begin on the new, permanent masonry wall that will separate our building from the demolition zone. The plan is to begin on the second floor of Daniels and work …
Construction Update 10/01/2018
Progress continues outside the building. Johnson Street is now open but work on Charter street on the west side of our block will continue until the end of November. The temporary access route from University Avenue to …
Construction Update 9/24/2018
Changes are continuing outside the building. The intermittent closings of the north crosswalk at Charter and Johnson Streets at the end of last week signal the beginning of the end of Johnson St. work, which should be …
Construction Update 9/17/2018
Last Friday we had a very successful groundbreaking ceremony for our new chemistry building. Both Dean Karl Scholz and Chancellor Rebecca Blank praised our department in their remarks and lots of people put shovels into …
Construction Update 9/10/2018
Groundbreaking Celebration: Groundbreaking is Friday of this week, September 14, from 4:30 to 6:00 pm in the Daniels Building Portico at the corner of Mills St. and University Avenue. Following brief remarks at 5:00 pm …
Construction Update 8/27/2018
JOIN US FOR THE NEW CHEMISTRY BUILDING GROUNDBREAKING! The New Chemistry Building Will Advance Undergraduate Education. Friday, Sept. 14, 4:30 6 p.m., Remarks at 5 p.m. Daniels Building Portico, located at the corner of University Avenue and …
Construction Update 8/13/2018
Loading Dock Access On Mon Aug 13th, access to the chemistry loading dock will be provided via the temporary driveway from University Avenue. The driveway to Charter Street will be blocked by construction activities for a …
Construction Update 7/30/2018
Bids Opened: The bids for the General Contractor of the Chemistry Building Project (new Tower, renovation of floors B, 1, and 2 of the Daniels Building, and installation of fire sprinklers + fire alarm system) …