The $39.8 million future home of the IU Scool of Informatics and Computing will nw be called Luddy Hall after an $8 million donation. It will be located along Woodlawn Avenue and is slated to be completed in fall of 2017. Courtesy photo
Limestone from quarries in Bedford and Oolitic will be used in the construction of Indiana University’s new $39.8 million informatics building. But before the stone is hung on the exterior walls of Luddy Hall, it will be shipped nearly 8,000 miles to Foshan, China, and back.
According to a June post on IU’s Luddy Blog titled “Rock Show,” representatives from Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and Weddle Brothers Construction, the university’s contractor for the project, had picked out samples of different grades of limestone from local quarries for the building. Once the final limestone is chosen, it will be quarried and shipped to China to be sawed and built into exterior panels.
The stone is expected to be shipped out in January and return to Bloomington later in 2017, according to the post.
It may seem like a lot of unnecessary travel, considering there are several stone cutting businesses in the area. But the subcontractor responsible for fabricating the panels insists the end result is well worth the trip.
As with all major projects, IU sought bids for the 124,000-square-foot building along Woodlawn Avenue. Bloomington-based Weddle Brothers submitted the low bid for the project. With a job this large, it’s not uncommon for the winning company to enter into as many as 50 subcontracts, said John Lewis, associate vice president of capital planning and facilities for IU.
© 2024 HeraldTimesOnline, Bloomington, IN