The latest on campus construction

While Whitman College, the single largest construction project in Univer-sity history, opened last fall, work continues on several major campus projects. Two are nearing completion, while Princeton’s third four-year residential college is on track to open in the fall of 2009. Here’s an update:

Frank Wojciechowski

Work is nearly complete on the Lewis Science Library, designed by celebrated architect Frank Gehry. The 87,000-square-foot building, located on the corner of Washington Road and Ivy Lane, should be fully operational in the fall, with some offices moving in during the summer. The library will house the astrophysics, biology, chemistry, geosciences, math, physics, and statistics collections, as well as the map collection and the Digital Map and Geospatial Information Center. The building also will house the Education Technologies Center, the New Media Center, the Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering, and a new broadcast center. Peter B. Lewis ’55 donated $60 million toward the building; University treasurer’s reports have put the total cost at $74 million.

Frank Wojciechowski

Extensive work is under way on the new dorms of Butler College, located across Elm Drive from Whitman College and on the site of the razed New New Quad. The Butler complex, scheduled for occupancy in September 2009, will become Princeton’s third four-year residential college. The new red-brick dorms with limestone trim will house 290 students, primarily in quads and doubles. The University treasurer’s report lists the cost of the 112,000-square-foot Butler project at $88 million.

Frank Wojciechowski

Installation of glass facing is nearly finished on a new building to house the Department of Opera-tions Research and Financial Engineering, the engineering school’s largest department. The building, located between Wallace Hall and Mudd Library and across from the computer science building, should be ready for use in August. The 46,000-square-foot building also will be home to the Center for Information Technology Policy and will include some general classroom space.