{"id":139282,"date":"2021-04-28T10:12:33","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T14:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=139282"},"modified":"2026-02-19T09:27:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:27:39","slug":"campus-construction-update-april-29-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2021\/04\/28\/campus-construction-update-april-29-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus Construction Update: April 30, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As construction of Bates\u2019 Bonney Science Center nears completion, there\u2019s a new development that\u2019s not obvious but is highly significant: The building is now wearing its name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first of what will be three BSC signs is on the south side, facing the parking lot near the Bardwell Street gate, and only from Bardwell can you get a good look. The name appears on a new concrete wall in a sort of sunken-relief style \u2014 that is, the letters are recessed deeply into the concrete. (The wall, surfaced with a rustic \u201cbarnboard\u201d texture, conceals the building\u2019s primary HVAC air intake, a shaft leading down to the basement and the air handlers.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, the words \u201cBonney Science Center\u201d appear on the wall in yellow letters. But that won\u2019t last. What\u2019s yellow is the plastic foam that formed the letters when the wall was cast, and that foam will be removed, leaving the contrast between light and shadow to distinguish the lettering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately the building name, honoring lead project donors Alison Grott Bonney \u201980 and Michael Bonney \u201980<\/a>, will also appear on the center\u2019s north and east sides in so-called dimensional lettering, the raised lettering seen on nearby Chu and Kalperis halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Proclaiming

Proclaiming the name: Placed earlier this month, a concrete wall near the Bardwell Street entrance to the construction site is the first instance of the Bonney Center’s name appearing on the building itself. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Roofers

Roofers in a lift are about to apply trim to a section of the Bonney Science Center roof overlooking Campus Avenue on April 26, 2021. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"New

New asphalt behind the science center on April 21, 2021. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Supplies

Supplies for site work, including lamppost bases (foreground), drain tiles, and curbstones, are stockpiled on the south side of the Bonney Center. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"The

The Bonney Science Center seen from the junction of Campus Avenue and Bardwell Street on April 21. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"One

One of three air handlers in the Bonney Center basement. (Courtesy of Logan Ouellette\/Consigli Construction)<\/p><\/div>

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\"This

This organic chemistry lab on the first floor of the Bonney Center appears ready for action. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"This

This concrete bed at the Bonney Center\u2019s main entrance will be topped with asphalt paving blocks. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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If a symbolic fanfare accompanies the arrival of the building name, other indications of Bonney progress make up in practical value what they lack in glory. For instance, if you\u2019re looking at the new sign, you\u2019re also seeing part of the first coat of asphalt paving, aka the binder coat, on the parking lot. That was placed last week, along with a section of sidewalk bordering Nichols Street. There\u2019s a second coat, or the topcoat, still to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stockpiled on that parking lot are supplies for additional site work, things like concrete drain tiles and cylindrical bases for lampposts, as well as granite curbing whose placement began this week. Similarly, a concrete bed has been poured for the building\u2019s main entrance, on Campus Avenue. Asphalt paving blocks to top off that entrance plaza are waiting on pallets around the corner on Nichols Street, where they aren\u2019t in anyone\u2019s way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, \u201cthere\u2019s so much of the building that\u2019s now on the cusp\u201d of completion, says Bates project manager Chris Streifel. He notes that sometimes in construction projects, as in so much of life, the going gets slower the further you go \u2014 \u201cbut then, suddenly, you flip a switch\u201d and huzzah, you\u2019re done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of that going on\u201d now, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The Campus Avenue side of the Bonney Center roof is largely complete in this April 26 image. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The building\u2019s roof is another example. Between technical problem-solving and winter weather, notably icing, it took months to get half of the dark-gray copper roof covering in place. \u201cIt was a long road,\u201d Streifel says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the rest of the copper, on the side facing Campus Avenue, was finished just weeks after that first side. The roof has been essentially complete since early April, with only a few snow guards and some sheet metal for gutters and trim left to install.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Streifel has been eager for this week to come, for with it arrives the process of punch-listing<\/a> \u2014 the inspections, and consequential tweaks, that finish a building project. That process just began on the second floor, following preparatory chores like paint touch-ups, shelf placement, cleaning \u2014 and the locking-off of completed spaces to forestall any backsliding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third-floor punch-listing will follow, and then the remainder of the building. Streifel expects all punch-listing to be done by the end of May, with most interior spaces punched by mid-month. In a similar but different process, the commissioning of the center\u2019s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, already underway, could extend into early June. (Some systems, notably the building-wide air intake system, are already in limited service.) <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"This<\/a>
This second-floor biology lab will be shared by professors Ryan Bavis, Jason Castro, and Martin Kruse. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Winding back to mid-May, that most-springlike time of the Maine spring will likely be majorly transitional for Bonney. Creative Office Pavilion of Portland, Maine, will start delivering furniture then. (The science center’s furniture will also include a few pieces custom-made by the Maine firm Thos. Moser, founded by a former Bates professor<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deliveries of all manner of equipment will commence too. \u201cThere are tons of AV equipment going throughout the building,\u201d says Streifel, along with the predictable printers and copiers, network gizmos, paper towel dispensers, trash and recycling bins, and of course the scientific equipment that directly supports the building mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By mid-May, too, the technical outdoor site work alluded to above \u2014 curbs, outdoor lighting, etc. \u2014 will be well along. And a bit later in the month, the landscapers will show up with their shrubs, flowers, and the loam to plant them in. (We were interested to learn that landscaping lingo includes the pronunciation of \u201cloaming,\u201d the placing of loam, as \u201clooming.\u201d Does this mean that after a hard day of work under the hot sun, landscapers like to enjoy an ice-cold foomy beer?)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flooring it<\/strong>: We\u2019ve written a lot about the Beacon, the two-story, glass-walled gathering place that affords a fabulous perspective on the Historic Quad. But this time, instead of complaining about the staging that\u2019s blocking that view, we can report that the staging is gone, the view is viewable, and the Beacon interior is close to completion, including snazzy lighting treatments on the third-floor overlook and elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A

A view of Carnegie Science Hall and the Historic Quad from the upper level of the Beacon. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"A

A Pavilion Floors employee is shown from the third-story overlook in the Beacon. Note the light fixture across the front of the overlook. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Called

Called a cable tray, this mesh trough running along the second-floor ceiling carries more than 260 cables serving controls, communications, and IT. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"A

A Bonney Center chemistry teaching lab. The chem labs tend to be smaller than the biology labs because, as construction administrator Jacob Kendall says, different chemistry processes don’t always play nicely together. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"The

The head of the Monumental Stair, accessed from the third floor. The workers on the lift outside are applying trim to the roof edge. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"This

This area at the rear of the science center lot will serve as a catchment basin for stormwater runoff. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"The

The south and east sides of the Bonney Science Center on April 21. Note the base coat of new paving behind the building. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"The

The Bonney Science Center, in rendering and reality on April 21. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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This \u201cis one of my favorite places just to stand and stare out,\u201d Streifel says. \u201cI\u2019m waiting for days when there\u2019s a thunderstorm or a snowstorm, just to watch that move past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, concrete specialists are now about halfway through the creation of the polished concrete floors on the building\u2019s first level. Entailing sophisticated formulations and many applications of progressively finer grinding implements, it results in a beautiful, lustrous, and durable surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every omelette involves breaking eggs, though, and you can’t polish concrete without generating a lot of dust that, as we\u2019ve noted,<\/a> can damage delicate machinery and electronics (to say nothing of spoiling your omelette). Moreover, the floor work also affects overall progress because folks in the other trades have to take a lot of detours. But all that\u2019s soon to be over: The first floor is the last to receive that treatment, ending a process that has loamed large in the minds of the Bonney project team. (See what we did there?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Carnegie<\/a>
Carnegie Science Hall and Ladd Library (and roofers on a lift) seen from the head of the Bonney Center’s Monumental Stair. (Doug Hubley\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of lighting treatments, a spectacular example will be coming to the Monumental Stair one of these days. We\u2019ve told you before about this stairway that, terminating at the main Bonney entrance and showcased behind three and a half stories of glass, joins the Beacon as standout visual features of the science center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we’ve noted previously, the Monumental Stair will be one of the last areas in the building to be completed. And one of the last steps (see what we did there<\/em>?) will be the hanging of its main light source: a cylindrical fixture that’s more than 25 feet long and glowing with some 30,000 LEDs. Huzzah!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we talk<\/strong>? Campus Construction Update welcomes queries and comments about current, past, future, timeless, and aspirational construction at Bates. Write to dhubley@bates.<\/a>edu<\/a>, putting \u201cCampus Construction\u201d or \u201cHuzzah!\u201d in the subject line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doug Hubley is a writer and musician living in Portland, Maine.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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