ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ROANOKE
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
Planning for a $25 million information technology building that includes a skybridge stretching across Virginia Tech's mall officially moves from the concept to the design stage this week.
The three-member building and grounds committee of the Board of Visitors approved the step - moving from "schematic" to "working" drawings - at a meeting Thursday at the Hotel Roanoke.
But groundbreaking still is at least a year away for the Hokie-stone building, expected to be a center where professors and students will combine computer learning research with actual classes.
Committee members last reviewed the concepts in April, and said Thursday they asked the architects to modify a triangular-shaped atrium inside the building. Projects typically go through 15 versions before they're final - and this one's far from that, said Washington-based design architect Philip Esocoff.
Towers reminiscent of Burruss Hall will be built onto the end of Newman Library, leading into a 15-foot high "reading room" stretching across the mall. The window-lined building is designed to frame the university's War Memorial just across Drillfield Road. Esocoff said he's still working on the design to try to "come up with something that's a portal to the university."
On the other side of the mall - connected to the other end of the reading room - will be the three-story Advanced Communications and Technology Building. Funded in part by a $10 million appropriation from the legislature, construction costs for the $25 million project are expected to come in at $20.5 million, said Ray Smoot, Tech's vice president for finance and treasurer. The university is covering the balance through private fund raising, and so far has come up with $7 million, Tech Executive Vice President Minnis Ridenour said.
Standing on the mall looking up, the bottom of the arch will stretch from 14 to 27 feet above the road, Esocoff said. The project architect is Pat Shaffner of Roanoke.
As for the technology center, look for moveable walls in research bays, where professors will do computer learning research tested in nearby classrooms. A boardroom also may be built in the center.
"We wanted to make this project as flexible as possible," Shaffner said.
Calling the drawings "absolutely marvelous," committee member Cecil Maxson suggested an education process be set up later in the project to present the plans to the public.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB