A week ago, the basement of Holmes Hall was a maze of ripped-out floors, exposed ceilings, hanging wires and gaping holes in the walls.
The Lyman Briggs School is renovating laboratories and offices in a two-phase project that will accommodate a predicted increase in student enrollment during the next five years.
There will be one physics, four biology and two chemistry labs when construction is completed, said Steven Spees, associate director of the Lyman Briggs School and chemistry professor.
"They're expanding the laboratories, adding more equipment and modernizing it," said Richard Bellon, visiting assistant professor for Lyman Briggs.
All the labs will be air-conditioned, which costs the most of all the renovations to install, Spees said.
"We're adding a lot of labs that require air flow," he said. "We'd like to offer classes in the summer, but without the labs being air-conditioned that wasn't feasible."
Ken Careathers, assistant manager for Holmes Hall, said construction started May 9 and will include new ventilation and water systems.
"The entire basement is in disarray," he said.
Careathers said the construction has not interfered with residence hall workers, the Academic Orientation Program or summer conferences.
"It gets busy in the hallway occasionally," he said. "As it goes right along, we're working right along with it."
The project costs more than $5 million, including contributions from the university, alumni and private donations, Spees said.
"The reason it's being done in two phases is because it's an expensive project," he said, adding that the first phase is this summer, and the second will be next summer.
The school has over half of the money raised already - but it's not enough for next summer's construction phase.
"We're well on our way to raise money to complete the project," Spees said.
Every year there are many students who apply to Lyman Briggs, but the school is unable to accept all the applicants, Spees said. But the university wants to help encourage more enrollment.
"Briggs has always been first come, first serve," Spees said. "The university has looked at Briggs as good recruiting."
Last year's enrollment for Lyman Briggs was about 525, and they're expecting to raise it to 575 fall semester, Spees said. By fall semester of 2006, the Lyman Briggs School expects to have about 625 students enrolled.
The expansion will allow the classrooms to accommodate the increase, Spees said.
"We couldn't handle that many freshmen with the labs (before)," he said. "The one lab we had we could only handle 230 (per semester) at the max."
The new lab should be able to hold 440-450 students, Spees said.
Bellon said Lyman Briggs provides an opportunity for students to enroll in smaller class sizes and have more interaction with the professors and fellow students.
"The one concern is that as Briggs grows, the community and intimacy is lost," he said.
Careathers said the building had no major construction since it was built in 1965, and the renovation helps improve the building as well as the school.
"It will be a major benefit for the students," he said.
