The University of Chicago

Overview

Status: Pre-Construction and Estimated Completion Date: Spring 2015

The William Eckhardt Research Center design proposes a 265,000 gross square foot building with a basement and sub-basement and five above grade floors including one shell space floor. The building will house offices, conference rooms and laboratories for Division of Physical Sciences units including the Astronomy and Astrophysics Department, the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Studies, and the Enrico Fermi Institute. The building will also house the University’s new program in Molecular Engineering providing offices, conference rooms, a clean room, and specialized laboratory and imaging facilities. Three buildings currently located on the site will be demolished to make way for the new building.

Exterior work includes landscaping, paving, lighting and security and will create a new “North Science Quadrangle” in the interstitial space to the west of the building. Steam and chilled water would be provided through new direct buried lines from the existing vault west of the new West Campus Combined Utility Plant.

Related feature article: http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2010/12/13/new-eckhardt-center-building-provide-home-precision-science

Project Team

Project Director: John Ekholm
Senior PM: David Rift
PM Assist: Joyce Griffin, Jennifer Fifield
Architect/Engineer: HOK with James Carpenter Design Associates
Construction Manager: W.E. O’Neil

Project contact: John Ekholm, jekholm@uchicago.edu

Project Updates

Past Milestones:

• Summer 2010: Program relocation renovations began
• Winter 2011: Completion of program relocations; start of abatement and demolition

Upcoming Milestones:

• Currently demolishing on-site buildings. 
• March 2012: target to begin construction
• Winter 2015: Target for occupancy

Photos