From IDS reports\nThe two newest buildings on the IU campus will be familiar additions to most students. The IU Board of Trustees approved the Multidisciplinary Science Building Phase II and the new Ashton Center projects at their Friday meeting. Both projects will change the face of campus, and both will feature architecture designed to blend in with the look and feel of existing buildings.
Multidisciplinary Science Building Phase II\nThe $42.4 million MSB II will replace the Service Building on N. Walnut Grove Street and will form a courtyard with the Psychology Building, the Kelley School of Business Graduate and Executive Education Center and the Fee Lane parking garage. N. Walnut Grove Street will be closed to make room for pedestrian paths. The 65,000-square foot building will house neuroscientists, biochemists and environmental researchers. \nDavid Black, a design partner at Flad & Associates, the Madison, Wis., architecture firm designing the building, said nearly every building on campus incorporates a variation of the collegiate gothic style. He said he tried to incorporate all of these variations and current modernist themes when designing the yet-to-be-named building. Black said the focal point of MSBII will be a five-story tower featuring an atrium. The rest of the building will rise four stories.
New Ashton Center\nJust as prominent will be the $56 million new Ashton Center. The 400,000-square foot center will feature nine four-story residence buildings and a six-story 783-bed center building. The buildings will be constructed in the old parts of the current Ashton Center, most of which now stand vacant. Buildings in Ashton still housing students will be unaffected by the project. Bill Browne, president of Ratio Architects, the firm designing the new center, said they tried to pattern the buildings in keeping with older parts of campus. He said the new Ashton center building even will feature an archway where students can pass through the building, like the one in Memorial Hall. The residence hall also will be built using the collegiate gothic style found throughout campus. Construction will start within the next 10 to 11 months.
