As a crane lifted the final structural beam for 杏吧视频鈥檚 Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering up into the air Friday afternoon, the rain began to pour down.
But spirits were not dampened. Cheers erupted as the beam鈥攁dorned with signatures of construction crew, staff members and other stakeholders and topped with an American flag and an evergreen tree historically present in construction projects鈥攖raveled up four stories before being secured into place.
Construction crew members from 鈥攁 joint venture among Turner Construction Co., Adrian Maldonado & Associates Inc., Next Generation Construction and the AKA Team鈥攚ere on site to watch the momentous occasion, known in the industry as a 鈥渢opping-out ceremony.鈥
鈥淚 want to thank you for doing what you do every day. You do a dangerous job. You鈥檙e out here in the cold and the wind and the snow, and I know how hard it is,鈥 Dean Tufts, vice president for campus planning and facilities management, told the crew gathered. 鈥淪o I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.鈥
Crews broke ground on the 189,000-square-foot research and lab space last spring, with an official groundbreaking ceremony held in the fall. The project remains on budget and on time for completion in fall 2026, in line with the university鈥檚 bicentennial. The next phase of construction will be to apply the spray-on fire protection to the structural steel, a process that likely will continue through the summer.
When complete, the state-of-the-art research hub will house dedicated research and lab space for 65 principal investigators and their research teams鈥攊ncluding students, faculty and staff from the College of Arts and Sciences, Case School of Engineering, the School of Medicine, and selected others.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not just building a building,鈥 Tufts told the construction crews. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e doing big, big things. You鈥檙e helping to cure cancer. You鈥檙e gonna help vets that don鈥檛 have arms take their prosthetics and hold their spouses鈥 hands.鈥
Stay up to date on the building鈥檚 progress on the ISEB website or by .