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from the issue of July 15, 2004
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Refurbished Avery Hall welcomes new tenants
BY TOM HANCOCK, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Avery Hall has been transformed from a dowdy, early-20th century matron into a 21st century fashion plate.
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| | | Some sections of the original structure of Avery Hall have been maintained for atmosphere. Photo by Dave Fitzgibbon.
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The refurbished hall contains the usual classrooms and faculty and graduate student offices, but it also is home to such forward-looking features as wireless computer networking, student-friendly spaces for mentoring and collaboration, and multimedia configurations.
Despite the face lift, the past hasn't been forgotten. Project manager and architect Alan Wedige of UNL Facilities Management and Planning made sure many design elements, such as wood tones and windows from the building's former incarnation, were retained.
Wedige and primary contractor Kingery Construction worked with an Avery Hall actually made of two parts: an original structure dating from 1916 and an addition from the early 1940s. Some of the original 1916 brickwork has been preserved in its distressed state.
One noticeable change to Avery is opened, uncovered windows, which bring in much more light to the building. The top halves of windows on the east side of the building, originally blacked out in an energy-saving effort, have been uncovered, and the new windows are more efficient than the covered versions, Wedige said.
The building serves 21st-century interests, with wireless networking available throughout. Multimedia presentations can be piped from a central location to lecture halls containing a projector, eliminating the need for carrying computers and hardware to each site. Seminar spaces are wired to accommodate flat-panel screens should they be installed in the future.
Research spaces are designed with open, central areas for team collaboration, and lecture halls have been redesigned with some fixed seating and flexible seating areas near the front. Labs, a library and two computer server rooms are in the basement, and a new entrance and elevator were installed for those who need special accommodations. The framework of the front facade has been maintained. Landscaping has been removed from the area, uncovering the 1916 cornerstone, and a new landscaping design is in the works.
Avery Hall is the home of the mathematics department and the computer science and engineering department; both began moving to the new space in mid-June. The City Campus component of the statistics department will also have quarters there.
The Avery Hall renovation cost nearly $11 million and was paid for by Legislative Bill 1100. The project design began in winter 2001, and construction began in fall 2002.
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