Durham Research Center opens its doors
after four years of planning, construction
The
University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the construction
plan for the Durham Research Center in
June 1999. Ground was broken on May 22, 2001, and the center was named
in honor of Charles Durham to recognize his outstanding contribution
to the project.
Floors: 10
levels, including two below ground
Time-lapse photography shows the Durham Research Center
construction. Click here to watch the movie.
Total square footage: 289,000 gross square feet
Cost: $77
million – all from private funds, except $2.5 million in federal funds.
No state tax dollars are being used in the construction. State funding
will be requested for operating and maintenance expenses.
Location: UNMC
campus, 45th Street between Dewey Avenue and Emile Street (on the former
site of the University Geriatric Center).
Building
highlights:
116 research
laboratories.
A 319-seat
auditorium.
Three
classrooms and 12 conference/seminar rooms.
Main
level: auditorium, classrooms, computer laboratory and public spaces.
Research
areas: state-of-the-art laboratories and associated support services.
The research
building is a cast-in-place concrete facility. As opposed to steel
buildings, cast-in-place buildings are quieter and also designed
to reduce traffic and other vibration to levels tolerable for research.
Research
benefits: The research facility will create a research mall
– the Durham Research Plaza on the west end of the UNMC campus –
and will enable UNMC to enhance its research in a number of areas,
including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurosciences, transplantation
biology, genetics and eye research.
Named areas of the building: Various floors and areas
of the building will be named in honor of the primary donors, including:
The Peter
Kiewit Foundation Transplant Biology Research Laboratories.
Scott
Atrium and Education Center (Suzanne and Walter Scott Jr.)
Scott
Neuroscience Research Laboratories (Ruth and Bill Scott).
Cardiovascular
Research Laboratories (Mary and Richard Holland).
Truhlsen
Eye Research Laboratories (Stanley M. Truhlsen, M.D.)
Gail
Walling Yanney, M.D., Seminar Center (Michael Yanney and Gail Walling
Yanney, M.D.).
Criss
Memorial
Foundation Seminar Center.
Construction
facts:
An estimated
23,000 cubic yards of concrete were required for the structure –
enough concrete to pave approximately 25 football fields.
30,000
cubic yards of excavation.
1,300
tons of resteel.
335,000
square feet of formwork – almost 8 acres.
29,000
square feet of architectural precast concrete panels.
800
doors.
66,000
square feet of glass – more than 1.5 acres.