Daniels 16-Day Shutdown Has Begun
The Daniels wing of our building is closed to all occupants through March 30 to enable switchover to the new supply-air system. Occupants prepared their labs, offices, and other spaces and vacated the Daniels wing on Sunday, March 14. Construction teams are working extended hours, typically 5:00 am – 10:00 pm, seven days per week, to accomplish the switchover as quickly as possible. Construction teams are authorized to access any portion of the building at any time
Basement-level entrances to Daniels are closed because a crane is supporting workers who are applying decorative facing to the large exhaust plenum that surrounds the rooftop of Daniels (see next section). No classes can be held in Daniels and students should not enter the building through either doorway on the Johnson-Street side of the Daniels basement.
The newly installed fire doors in the Mathews / Daniels elevator lobby are closed and must remain closed for the duration of the switchover. Because it is a construction zone nobody should enter the Daniels wing between March 15 and March 30. This supersedes any approvals regarding building access that you may request or receive via entry.chem.wisc.edu.
Work in Johnson Street, March 15-26
A crane is now in place at the Johnson-Street (south) side of the Daniels wing to do overhead work at the roof level. The crane work requires these changes to pedestrian and vehicular activity in the area:
- The two entrances/exits at the basement level of Daniels, along Johnson Street, are closed.
- The sidewalk along the north side of Johnson Street is closed from mid-block to the corner at the seminar hall.
- The northernmost lane of Johnson Street is closed.
- During working hours, the second lane of Johnson Street will be closed.
Building occupants should enter/exit on the first floor via Shain Tower or via the west Mathews door. Do not use doors at basement Daniels (emergency use only).
Noise and Vibration: North End of Daniels
During the first three weeks of April, immediately following the Daniels 16-day shutdown, construction workers will be removing concrete pads on which the old air handlers were located. The pads will be cut with a saw and parts of them will be jack-hammered away. This will produce much noise and vibration at the north end of Daniels.
New Tower
The interior of the new tower looks more and more like its final, finished configuration. Workers have installed wood panels, special floor coatings, interior walls and windows, and ceilings in many areas. For example, ceiling panels and lighting are essentially complete in the large lecture rooms. Many laboratories have casework, benchtops, sinks, fume hoods, and even drying racks in place. The current schedule indicates completion of the tower by June 8. Soon thereafter we will be moving into new teaching/learning facilities that are a tremendous improvement over the 1960s-era labs we are vacating.
Outside, on the University Avenue façade of the tower, as many as four teams of workers are installing frames around windows in preparation for finishing the exterior with terra cotta decorative panels. Also, workers are pouring concrete for sidewalks along Mills Street outside the entrance south of the main portico. This entrance will be used by thousands of students daily to access the monumental staircase that leads down to the lecture rooms in the sub-basement.
Construction at the North End of Daniels Continues
The new tower will be connected to the existing Daniels wing on the fourth and fifth floors, as well as from the second floor down to the sub-basement. In January construction began to reconfigure the corridors at the north end of the Daniels building and accommodate doorways to the new building.
Floors B, 1, 2 of Daniels are being opened to the new tower. This work involves the construction of doorways to accommodate continuous corridors between Daniels and the new tower. Fire doors will be installed and will remain closed during the construction of the tower and for the duration of the renovation of floors B, 1, and 2 Daniels.
Floor 3 work involves the reconfiguration of rooms 3345 and 3351. This construction work is internal to these two rooms. It involves changes to ductwork to accommodate doorways to the new building on other floors. There will not be a connection to the new building on floor 3, but changes on floors 5 and 4 necessitate changes on floor 3.
Floor 4 work involves the reconfiguration of rooms 4343 and 4351 to connect the research floor of the tower with Daniels.
Floor 5 work involves the demolition of rooms 5341 and 5351. The fifth floor of the tower is level with the fifth floor of Daniels, and this work will open the doorway that connects them.
Floors 6, 7, and 8 construction is underway. It involves blocking the windows in rooms on the north wall of Daniels. All construction work will be internal to those rooms.
Construction activities will not affect access to labs, offices, or the stairwell. Dust and debris will be contained behind construction barriers. There will be occasional noise and vibration. The work is expected to be complete soon.
North Mills Street Closure
Because a crane is raising and lowering materials to and from the rooftop of the Daniels wing, North Mills Street has been closed between West Johnson Street and University Avenue through Thursday, April 1. All access to Conklin Place (the alley in the middle of the block on the east side of Mills Street) will need to occur from north Brooks Street on the east.
Wi-Fi Upgrade
The next phase of the building-wide WiFi upgrade began on Feb 10. Contractors are installing devices throughout the building complex. Work in Shain tower is nearly complete and work in Mathews and Daniels is underway. Installation of each device requires only a few minutes. There may be a momentary disruption of local WiFi service in the work area. Work will proceed during the next several weeks.
16-Day Shutdown of Mathews Wing
April 14-29 Mathews will be closed to all occupants (switchover to new exhaust system)
The schedule for Mathews is not yet final, so we will provide further details as planning develops. There will be four weeks advance notice of confirmed dates.
Graphic Schedule of Upcoming Events
Many different construction activities are simultaneously affecting our building complex. We summarize them graphically below.
We thank Gerald David of Miron Construction and Jim Maynard for the photos used in this newsletter issue.
This information is up to date as of Monday morning. Email bulletins will be provided as needed.
John Moore and Bob McMahon