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By Bryan Hay
If you want one more glimpse of Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center’s exposed steel framework, you better move fast.
Precast concrete panels are now being installed, the first step in enclosing the five-story building’s exterior. Seventy-two panels will be hoisted and hung on the north elevation of Rockwell Center, with sizes ranging from about 10’ x 13’ to 14’ x 32’, which is the largest panel. The weight of the panels ranges from 9,300 to 31,500 pounds.
This phase of the work is expected to last about another two weeks. Other parts of the building’s exterior will be covered with a brick facing. That work is expected to begin within the next several weeks.
The $75 million center, the largest capital project in Lafayette’s history, is named for S. Kent Rockwell ’66, one of the College’s most generous benefactors.
The 103,000-square-foot building on Anderson Courtyard will bring together biology, computer science, and environmental science and studies, along with additional space for neuroscience, and will be connected to Acopian Engineering Center. Kunkel Hall, home to the biology department, will be repurposed following the department’s move into the new building, as will the fifth floor of Acopian, current home to the computer science department.
Lafayette’s Bradbury Dyer III ’64 Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship also will be based in Rockwell Center along with the Daniel and Heidi Hanson ’91 Center for Inclusive STEM Education and unplanned spaces for future academic growth. RISC is scheduled to open for fall semester 2019.