A makeover for one of North Campus's most recognizable buildings is taking longer than expected.
O'Brian Hall, home to the law school, was stripped of its uniquely slanted brick wall last October for safety reasons. According to officials, the project's completion date is still unclear, and until building material problems are resolved, the renovation will continue to keep O'Brian looking like a construction site.
Gordy Love, manager of quality assurance for University Facilities planning and design, said the 32-year-old brick exterior has been kept under a tarp and fenced off for a good reason.
"It was a safety issue," Love said. "The original veneer on the brick was starting to slide off."
The project is taking so long, he said, because of a several snags and questions concerning building materials.
"It's going quite slowly because we had some detailing and manufacturing issues we just resolved," Love said. "We need to have the manufacturer deliver the wall panels. We're waiting on that."
Love said the entire project's cost is running between $350,000 and $400,000. He declined to comment on when the project would finish.
"It's really an issue of when the wall panel manufacturer delivers us those (materials)," he said.
Love also said there is another project for O'Brian Hall in the design stages right now.
"We're going to renovate an area on the fifth floor," he said. "It's going to be a conference space, faculty lounge and faculty room."
O'Brian Hall was completed in 1973 at the cost of over $7 million. Along with housing the law school, it is the site of all the law classrooms, faculty offices, and the Charles B. Sears Law Library, which itself had to be renovated last March for smoke damage after a fire.
Although the cause of that fire, which started in the second floor food court, was never determined, officials say the cleanup for it was successful.
"Classes were shut down for two days, and the classes on the second floor had to be moved for the rest of the semester," John Hayes, facilities operations manager from University Facilities. "There was a lot of smoke damage in them."
According to Mike Dupre, associate director of University Facilities, the cost for all the cleanup and refurbishing came to approximately $1.7 million.
Students who had classrooms changed at the time said it was only a minor inconvenience, considering the situation.
"We missed classes for a day and then our criminal law class had to relocate to a different room," said Matt Albert, graduate legal studies major. "The library was down for all of last semester."
"It hindered legal research, and while we went to other libraries to study, the law library is obviously the most conducive library for law students," Albert added.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
