February 15, 2008, from the roof of Pearson Hall looking toward the East Quad.
The vagaries of winter weather have not impeded progress on the Farmer School’s new building.
As of mid-February, 50 percent of the building’s structural steel has been erected, and this framework will soon be erected for the west wing.
When each section of steel is in place, iron workers install metal decking on each floor, which is then covered with concrete. To date, the concrete slab has been poured on the entire east wing and is underway on the center wing.
Metal framing for the roof rafters and exterior walls has been started in the east wing and eastern portion of the center wing.
Workers are installing duct mains, sprinkler mains, electrical conduits and rough-ins for overhead plumbing.
At this stage, progress on the building is visible even to the casual observer. It’s exciting to see our future home take shape.
November 29, 2007 Area D in the foreground left, looking northwest towards Area C: Metal deck can be seen placed on top of structural steel and the columns and framing for the second floor is underway. Also note the concrete stair towers projecting up vertically as they are complete and ready for steel to frame up to them.
Happy holidays from the Farmer School of Business job site! A great deal of progress has occurred since our last report.
Structural steel in the southeast corner (Area D) is up to the third floor and steel erection in the northeast and center (Area C) of the building are underway. Immediately following the erection, fabricators are placing metal deck and we are preparing to pour our first series of slab on metal deck pours for the first through third floors. In the basement below, concrete slab on grade pours are now past the midpoint of the building and are working their way counter clockwise toward the southwest corner of the building as we try to keep ahead of the hard charging iron workers! Also below in the basement, mechanical contractors are placing hangers for piping from the new steel and are laying out for all the systems to support the building. As an example, air handling units 1&2 serving Area D were placed in the basement this week. In the weeks to come, foundations will be backfilled, the light gauge structural steel (metal stud) crew will begin infill framing of exterior walls, and fire proofing of the steel in place will occur.
September 10, 2007 Looking east from the roof of Pearson Hall, a crane can be seen in the middle of Area C booming formwork to a wall crew. The plastic seen on the south bank of Area B is placed prior to the form crew arriving and helps protect the bank from erosion in the event of rain.
September 10, 2007 Area “D” looking north. Stair tower #1 will be poured in its entirety because it acts as a bearing point for steel beams framing the first floor and above. The scaffold is motorized and moves up with the forming crew as pours advance vertically.
With the mass excavation complete thanks to recent dry weather, the placing of concrete for footers, foundations, and basement walls are well underway.
Area D—the south east corner of the building which houses the large auditorium—now has all its basement walls poured and is currently being waterproofed and prepared for backfill outside and for slab on grade (pouring of basement floors) inside the building.
Area C—the remainder of the east wing—has five wall crews and one footer crew rapidly building formwork and pouring basement walls. In front of this crew the plumbers continue to rough in footer drains and underground storm and sanitary sewer mains.
The jack holes for the two elevators have been drilled. Lightning protection grounding cables are in place. Waterproofing of foundations will continue as walls are poured.
The next major milestone will be the delivery of structural steel for Area D which is scheduled to arrive and start erection in late October. The steel will be erected in sections vertically first floor to attic starting on the south east corner and working counter clock wise.
Construction continues on schedule and on budget for a summer 2009 move-in for the Farmer School of Business.
For more information about the Farmer School's future home, email us or call (513) 529-4221.
Additional images and renderings of the Farmer School's future home are available in our photo gallery.
Miami breaks ground on home for Farmer School
Speeches and spadework officially kicked off development of Miami University’s comprehensive new building that will house the Farmer School of Business.
On Thursday, Nov. 2, university and Farmer School administrators, faculty members, staff and students gathered for a ground breaking ceremony that was punctuated by laughter and emotion.
“If I had had access to resources like this when I was a student at Miami, I might have amounted to something,” said major donor and Cintas Corp. Chairman Richard T. Farmer, to chuckles from the audience.
“This building gives physical form to the Farmer School, which is on a consistently upward trajectory in its journey ‘from good to great,’” said Farmer School Dean Roger L. Jenkins. “Ever since providing an essential cornerstone gift in 1992, Dick and Joyce Farmer have matched stride with us on that journey.”
Through their Farmer Family Foundation, Richard and Joyce Farmer provided $25 million as a leadership gift for the new building.
After the remarks by Farmer and Jenkins, as well as Miami President David Hodge and Board of Trustees Chair Fred Wall, the four joined Joyce Farmer in turning a symbolic shovelful of earth.
The new Georgian Revival building, which will measure about 210,000 square feet, will house the six academic departments, three centers, and numerous programs that make up the Farmer School of Business. For the first time in decades, the entire school will be located within the same building.
Features of Farmer Hall include a trading room that enables students to simulate stock-trading activity, Net classrooms and conference rooms, 500-seat and 150-seat auditoriums, a student organizations suite, and a reading room housing library and electronic research facilities.
