Renovations and upgrades that were taking place in the Cowgill Hall architecture building over the past year are now complete.
Architecture and Design School Director Scott Poole said the overall project budget was $10 million.
As a result of the spending, Cowgill now has new flooring, a process that involved an expensive asbestos tile removal and new finishes to walls and ceilings. Service Contracting of Virginia Inc. finished work on the walls and ceilings.
"Most of the older buildings on campus have asbestos floor tiles, which are perfectly safe until they're removed," Poole said.
The lobby received an extensive facelift, with new all-glass enclosures for staff offices and new wooden ribs running floor-to-ceiling along the walls.
"These are new," said Sam Dillehay, 2006 Tech graduate. "These used to have thousands of tiny holes in them."
The upper floors were also raised to allow electrical conduits to be run underneath them for repair and maintenance in a manner similar to a drop ceiling, Poole said.
The over 31,00 square feet of flooring work was completed by Avis Construction.
New windows were also installed to replace the existing single-pane windows. The new windows are glazed with energy efficient double-pane glass to improve the exterior walls' thermal performance.
"My office has glass on two sides, so I get sunlight in the morning and the afternoon," Poole said, "By then it was like a sauna. The air conditioning and heating expense was huge."
"I also like the new railings on the stairways. Before they had these old-fashioned wooden handrails," Dillehay said of the new rails that were installed on each set of stairs to comply with safety regulations.
Rooms are now equipped with occupancy sensor-controlled lights to improve energy efficiency and heating and air-conditioning systems were also upgraded to improve air quality and efficiency. Additionally, bathrooms have been brought up to code and new fixtures, tile and lighting have been installed.
"We installed new interior and exterior doors, which is a huge energy savings," Poole said.
Poole said Cowgill received upgrades to elevators and sprinkler systems to meet existing regulations and bathroom upgrades to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
Even some students got in on the act of renewing Cowgill.
"I worked here this summer after the renovations were complete, moving furniture and stuff," said sophomore architecture student Art Ivanov. "I heard this place was pretty beat-up before."
Others were struck by its new aesthetic qualities.
"It's nice, it's all white and shiny," said junior architecture student Chris Warren. "The old place looked really bad, these new wood (ribs) look a lot better than the old ones." Additionally, Cowgill received extensive roofing work to repair several cracks and leaks.
The School of Architecture and Design relocated to the Surge Building while renovations were made. Not all students are totally on board with the work.
Warren said the library's move to the first floor from the third was unfortunate because he missed the view.
"That used to be my favorite view of campus," Warren said, "I used to be able to sit in the library and look out over Burruss at the white campus, now it's all office space.
Still, library employee Donna Abel found the space superior and librarian Patrick Tomlin said there is, "a lot more room for collaborative work between students."
Plus, the quality of the furniture is definitely superior.
"We have new computer shelves, before we just had homemade tables made from a door on a metal rack," Abel said.
Henry V. Shriver, a 1952 Tech graduate, designed Cowgill Hall in a modern style. The four-story, 63,000-square-foot reinforced concrete building is cut into the top of a hill along the northwest edge of campus.
Cowgill Hall serves as office and studio space, houses the main classrooms for the School of Architecture and Design and serves as a home to its administrative offices. The facility also houses workshops for metalworking, woodworking, ceramics andgraphics.
Literature resources are housed on the ground floor of Cowgill Hall in the Art and Architecture Library, a branch of the University's Newman Library. The Art and Architecture Library contains 53,000 volumes, 515 periodicals and 45,750 slides.
In 2006 Cowgill Hall was named the winner of the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects Test of Time Award. This award is given annually to a building or group of buildings that has functioned in essentially the same manner as originally designed for at least 25 years.