This summer, the campus is undergoing many different renewals to support the Institute’s effort to improve teaching and learning environments and to lay the groundwork for supporting initiatives such as the Eco-Commons, the Living Building at Georgia Tech, and West Village. 

Look for construction to wrap up on a few long-term projects, for short-term projects to take shape, and for some new long-term work to begin.

NEARLY COMPLETE

Tech Parkway 

The addition of dedicated bicycle lanes should be complete this month, followed by lighting and striping along the path. The project should be complete in August.

Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Administration Building 

The interior renovation of this building, more commonly known as Tech Tower, is undergoing finishing touches on the ground floor. Faculty and staff from the Office of the Registrar, College of Sciences, and College of Engineering have all returned to the space. Work should wrap up in July.

West Village

The highly anticipated West Village will support residential, academic, and social needs of the west campus community. The open-concept space will include five micro-restaurants, Panera Bread and Starbucks locations, music classrooms, and shared meeting rooms. Like the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, this building will have 24/7 BuzzCard access, with dining available from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. on most days. West Village is expected to open by the end of August to coincide with the beginning of the fall semester.

Curran Street Deck 

The top of the Curran Street deck is under construction through mid-July. The work will remove gaming courts and add 67 parking spaces to the top of the structure to support the West Village.  

Manufacturing Research Center Building (MaRC) 

The MaRC front landscape and hardscape area is undergoing significant renewal through August. Once complete, the area will have improved accessibility and more than 120 new trees, hydrangea, and ferns — drought-tolerant plants that will reduce the heat island effect. While the project is underway, the north entry to the building will remain closed. Building access is available by walking east on Ferst Drive and entering on the adjacent side of the building, closest to Hemphill Avenue. 

IN PROGRESS

Instructional Center Renovation

The renovation of the Instructional Center Building, one of the most widely used classroom spaces on campus, includes 17 classrooms and the associated public spaces and lobbies on the first and second floors. The project will address accessibility and life safety upgrades, as well as replacement of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, resulting in improvement of indoor air quality, energy, and water efficiency. Renovations will be complete in August.

Boggs Chemistry Building

Renovations to the first floor of Boggs will provide lasting impacts to students and faculty in this active laboratory space. The renovation will include the removal of hazardous materials, adding more efficient LED lighting fixtures, improving air distribution, and updating the lobby and auditorium spaces. Renovations should be complete in time for the fall semester.

Van Leer Interdisciplinary Design Commons

The Van Leer rotunda is being renovated to make way for the new interdisciplinary design commons, which will provide education, collaboration, research, and maker space to foster student design creativity and innovation. The building improvements also include enhanced accessibility for ADA compliance, adaptive reuse, additional greenspace, and additional bicycle racks. The project is on schedule to be completed in January 2018. 

Savant Building

The Savant Building is receiving improvements to the first floor interior and overall exterior. The current project involves removing all non-historic structural elements on the first floor and creating a new suite for the office of the Dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. In addition, windows and entry doors will be replaced to restore the building’s historical appearance. This project is on schedule to be complete in December. 

Atlantic Promenade, Phase II

This area is under construction to replace the steam line from the Bunger-Henry Building to Ferst Drive, followed by landscaping upgrades. The repairs and upgrades will enhance the pedestrian experience on Atlantic Drive and create a walkable corridor with better lighting, eliminated trip hazards, and improved accessibility. This is the second phase of a three-phase project to improve underground utility infrastructure. This phase is expected to be complete in November. 

Third and Techwood Drainage Improvements 

Work in this area is scheduled to be complete by mid-August, prior to fall move-in. Significant coordination has been required among Parking and Transportation Services, the Department of Housing, Georgia Tech Athletics, and the Georgia Tech Police Department to support logistics around summer conferences.

Library Next 

The Price Gilbert and Crosland Tower renewal project, known as Library Next, will begin its first major phase of construction in late July. This phase of the project will be focused on Crosland Tower’s renovation, removal of the connecting bridge, and site work surrounding the building, including the removal of stairs and walkways passing between library buildings.

This phase is scheduled to be complete at the end of 2018, when Crosland Tower will reopen and function as the main Georgia Tech Library. At that point, renovation will begin on Price Gilbert. The entire project is scheduled to be completed and fully open in early 2020.

Pedestrian impacts will include the elimination of the route between Bobby Dodd Way/Cherry Street and Fourth Street that passes between the library buildings, as well as the alleyway between the Hinman Courtyard and Bobby Dodd Way that passes between Crosland Tower and the Old Civil Engineering Building. Learn more at renewal.library.gatech.edu.

Coda Building

The newest addition to Tech Square won’t be complete until 2019, but progress is being made by first digging down for the foundation and underground parking. See renderings of the project at c.gatech.edu/coda.

COMING SOON

Living Building at Georgia Tech

To prepare for the construction of the Southeast’s first living building, the campus will begin to see some changes on the northern edge of campus in the late summer and early fall. The W24 parking lot is anticipated to be shut down in September 2017. Leading up to this point, there will be temporary lane closures on Hemphill and State Street in order to convert some overhead electrical lines into underground lines. There will be no boring across the roadways. The groundbreaking of the Living Building is anticipated to be in late September. Learn more at livingbuilding.gatech.edu. 

Campus Safety Facility  

Construction on a new 30,000-square-foot building for the Georgia Tech Police Department will begin in early July. The police department currently has space for personnel and storage in five different buildings across campus. Bringing these units together into a single facility will allow them to more effectively communicate and collaborate on maintaining a safe and secure environment on campus.  

In addition, the move will allow Georgia Tech to proceed with the development of the Eco-Commons, which is a part of the Landscape Master Plan. The first significant phase of the Eco-Commons was implemented in conjunction with the construction of the Engineered Biosystems Building. The development of this sector of campus will continue with the Living Building at Georgia Tech, the Dalney Street Parking Deck, and the implementation of the landscape ecosystem adjacent to these projects.