New Year brings new, updated looks to Auburn University campus

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As another semester begins at Auburn University, students, faculty and staff can anticipate the completion of several building projects this year.

Those with plans to stay fit in 2018 will soon be able to use the renovated basement of the Recreation and Wellness Center. The previously unfinished space now accommodates areas for powerlifting, Olympic-style weightlifting, and personal and small-group training sessions.

The project to renovate Broun Hall is complete, providing a new two-story main entrance, revised lighting and finishes and updates to information technology, mechanical and electrical systems. New landscaping adjacent to the Ginn Concourse will be added soon.

The renovation and expansion of the Campus Safety Building finished this month, providing a storm proof emergency operations center, improved space utilization for campus safety staff and the capacity to house additional police officers for campus.

Engineering students should be able to use the Gavin Engineering Research Laboratory after the spring semester, based on the current project schedule. The project includes a comprehensive renovation of the 1930s-era Textile Building in order to relocate and consolidate a number of research labs.

The new Brown-Kopel Engineering Student Achievement Center, which isn’t slated to be completed until spring 2019, will connect to the Gavin Lab with a single-story courtyard. The three-story, 142,000-square-foot achievement center will house classrooms, study spaces, a wind tunnel laboratory and meeting and departmental spaces for academic advising, tutoring, professional development and industrial relations.

By renovating more than 8,000 square feet of the basement for the Bailey Small Animal Teaching Hospital, the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory and Biomedical Sciences research programs will have additional space for research labs, meeting rooms and office and support services beginning this summer.

At the Auburn University Regional Airport, construction of a new airport maintenance hangar and the new Delta Air Lines Aviation Education Building are expected to be complete this spring and summer, respectively. Both projects will benefit Auburn’s aviation management program.

The Mell Corridor, the space along Mell Street between Thach Avenue and Library Services Drive, is on track to be finished during the summer, providing a concourse for pedestrians and bicyclists and seating and gathering space adjacent to the Mell Classroom Building. The project also includes building a permanent welcome kiosk at the intersection of College Street and West Thach Avenue.

Projects at Jordan-Hare Stadium — to renovate the press box, renovate the home locker room and create a new gameday support facility — should be finished this summer. The press box project will convert much of the existing space to premium seating and new club space, as well as update coaches’ and television booths. A new press box will be created as part of the gameday support facility project, which also includes adding recruiting space for both football and Olympic sports and a new club space for fans.

The Leach Science Center is under construction to add 62,500 square feet to relocate the physics department from Parker Hall and Allison Laboratory, which need to be vacated and demolished for the new Academic Classroom and Laboratory Complex. The addition to Leach also includes space for instructional and research labs and student success and collaborative study spaces for the College of Sciences and Mathematics. The project is expected to be complete this fall.

Construction of the new Graduate Business Building and the Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center both began in August 2017, but aren’t scheduled for completion until spring and summer, respectively, 2019.

For more information on these and other major construction projects, visit Facilities Management’s Major Projects webpage.

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Auburn University is a nationally ranked land grant institution recognized for its commitment to world-class scholarship, interdisciplinary research with an elite, top-tier Carnegie R1 classification, life-changing outreach with Carnegie’s Community Engagement designation and an undergraduate education experience second to none. Auburn is home to more than 30,000 students, and its faculty and research partners collaborate to develop and deliver meaningful scholarship, science and technology-based advancements that meet pressing regional, national and global needs. Auburn’s commitment to active student engagement, professional success and public/private partnership drives a growing reputation for outreach and extension that delivers broad economic, health and societal impact.