Classrooms present high-tech challenge

June 28, 1999Madison — Herzing College is meeting its growing technology needs with a new high-tech building.Advancing computer technology and a burgeoning enrollment have prompted the school to build a new state-of-the-art classroom and administrative facility to provide students with better equipment and more space.The 30,000-square-foot building will house 17 classrooms, a computer lab with 60 work stations, two theater-style lecture rooms and a large research library, Herzing President Don Made-lung said.The school, established in 1948, offers courses in electronics, computer technology and CAD drafting with some courses available on the Internet.The on-line and in-person students are taxing the college’s equipment and facilities, Madelung said.“Our enrollment just keeps going up and we’re bursting at the seams,” he said. “The new location will allow us to accommodate the growth in our technical programs.”The new $2.2 million facility at 5218 E. Terrace Drive in the American Center will increase the college’s capacity by more than 50 percent.The building will include the most advanced computers to date, high-speed Internet access and satellite dishes.“The telecommunication layout for the building looks like a street map of Brooklyn,” Madelung said.Principal Architect-in-Charge Steve Harms with Strang Inc. of Madison said he tried to design the building to match its high-tech use.“We were rather limited by the American Center office park owners,” Harms said. “The building had to have a brick exterior so it was more difficult to get a high-tech look out of it. We did use canopies and some aluminum and stainless steel on it to try to make it look a little more ‘techie.’ ”The one-story building will have a structural steel skeleton, steel bar joist roof construction with a metal deck and single-ply EPDM or modified bitumen roofing material.Harms said the classsroom set-ups limited the number of windows.“You don’t want a lot of natural light coming into the areas of all those computers,” he said.Gilbert Construction Co. of McFarland is the general contractor. Project Manager Brad Gilbert said building the high-tech facility will take more coordination with Electric Construction Inc. of Madison, the design/build electrical subcontractor, due to all the telecommunications work.“It’s just a matter of everyone communicating up front and getting a clear idea of what they want, which the college has done a real good job of,” he said. “That makes it easy.”

Shortage a factor

The statewide drywall shortage could affect the project schedule and the building’s completion in February, Gilbert said.“By late fall I didn’t think it would be an issue, but it’s drifting towards still being a problem,” he said. “We’ll have to be careful with our scheduling and try to work the drywallers in as early as possible.”Gilbert said other design/build subcontracts have been awarded to American Heating & Air Conditioning Inc. of Middleton for HVAC, Benjamin Plumbing Inc. of Madison for plumbing and United States Fire Protection of Wisconsin in New Berlin for fire protection.Masonry will be let soon with interior trades to follow, Gilbert said. “We’re still tweaking the interior finishes and will bid out those trades at a later date,” he said.