Science underground

Excavation work stands out at UW research building

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Work inside the University of Wisconsin-Madison Microbial Science Building is being done at a high level. But the work done to build the foundation underneath the building is top-notch as well.

Excavation for the 390,000-square-foot building required digging down 60 feet in some areas, such as directly in front of UW-Madison’s historic Hiram Smith Hall, a building that dates back to the late 1800s, said Gerry Wheaton, project manager for C.D. Smith Construction, the project’s lead contractor.

“Just getting the building up out of the ground was a challenge in and of itself,” Wheaton said.

The sloping site had more than 20 feet of elevation change, according to Plunkett Raysich Architects, which worked extensively on the project.

“There were no other options other than to use some form of earth retention,” Wheaton said. “The building was large, and the area of the project was small, so we were going right up tight against the roads in some places.”

The project’s contractors used several forms of earth retention, Wheaton said, including shotcrete and soil nails to hold the site’s walls securely in place and H-piles with lagging.

Wheaton said poor soil in one area of the site also was an issue, as was working around a substation power plant in the basement of an existing building that had to remain in place and operational throughout.

“That was a real challenge,” said Arden Parfitt, project manager for Town & Country Electric. “We had to build right around it, which was very different.”

Project Essentials

Project name: University of Wisconsin-Madison Microbial Science Building

Location: Madison

Submitting companies: C.D. Smith Construction., Fond du Lac; Plunkett Raysich Architects, Milwaukee; Town & Country Electric, a division of Faith Technologies Inc., Sun Prairie

General contractor: C.D. Smith Construction

Architect: Plunkett Raysich Architects

Engineers: Arnold & O’Sheridan Inc., Madison, structural; PSJ Engineering, Madison, plumbing and fire protection; Ring & DuChateau Inc., Milwaukee, mechanical

Owner: Wisconsin Department of Administration, Madison

Project size: 390,000 square feet

Project cost: $120 million

Start date: January 2005

Completion date: July 2007

 

The substation powers more than one-third of the UW campus, said Scott Kramer, a partner with Plunkett Raysich.

“Designing around the electrical substation posed a number of different challenges,” Kramer said. “The substation’s location also played a part in the design and structural considerations of the building.”

The building’s contractors also were careful to work around a very old, large, white oak tree in the corner of the site that could not be disturbed.

“It was truly a complex project,” said Ben Menaker, assistant project manager for C.D. Smith.

The building includes a 450-seat symposium for hosting local and international seminars, two large classrooms, a discovery center for people of all ages, a four-level underground parking garage and research labs.

“The building is one of the largest and most costly buildings on the UW-Madison campus,” Kramer said. “It is an impressive structure, being the first multidisciplined research facility of its kind.”

— Caley Meals

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