As Duffield Hall's structure rises, so do access constraints

By Susan Lang

Another milestone on the Duffield Hall project is in sight: by the end of this month, the basic concrete structure for the $58.5 million high-tech research center should be complete. By summer's end, the building structure will top out with the installation of the structural steel for the barrel roof of the fourth-floor "penthouse," housing the building's ventilation equipment.

A view of the Duffield Hall construction site, June 19, from Campus Road, showing the framework for the cantilevered colloquium room on the building's north end. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

"Once the concrete structure is in place, the critical path moves to constructing the huge clean room on the first floor of Duffield, which will be the site of the new Knight Laboratory, home of Cornell's Nanofabrication Facility," said Robert Stundtner, the Duffield Hall project director. At that point, he said, workers will begin implementing protocols so the space achieves the specified level of cleanliness.

A reinforced-concrete structure is required to achieve extraordinary stability because nanometer-scale structures (a nanometer is the size of three silicon atoms) need extremely stable environments, with temperature, humidity, electromagnetic interference and vibration rigorously controlled. The clean room and electron microscopy suite on Duffield's first floor will contain the most stable environments, including five isolated slabs for ultra-low vibration requirements.

Already under way is the installation of the plumbing and heating systems in the basement of the new facility. And by the end of this month, the concrete structure of the service facility in the Phillips Hall parking lot will be complete. This facility houses the new loading dock, nitrogen storage tanks, trash room and emergency generator.

Over the summer, various site-related activities will affect access to buildings close to the project. Contractors already have begun to rearrange the construction fence to accommodate specific site work in the southwest corner of the Engineering Quad and along the north side of Kimball, Thurston and Bard halls. During this portion of the site work:

• the pathway between Hollister and Carpenter halls will not be accessible;
• the stairs between Bard and Hollister halls will not be accessible from the quad; and
• the east exit of McManus Lounge in Hollister Hall will remain open, but only for exit to the south, down the stairs toward the foot bridge.

Building exits that have or will close shortly include: the east exit doors of Carpenter Hall, the east exit doors of the Hollister Hall central lobby and the north exit doors of Bard Hall.

Access to and from Kimball, Thurston and Bard halls will be possible through the north entrances to Kimball or Thurston halls. These entrances can be reached from the direction of Upson Hall or from the south.

These limitations will be enforced until July 19, with additional interruptions in front of Kimball and Thurston halls continuing through Aug. 16.

For further questions, contact the Duffield Hall Project Team at Duffield@cornell.edu.