UConn’s Information Technology Engineering Building (ITE) is a 4-story teaching and research building that includes classrooms, wet and dry laboratories, offices, two high-tech classrooms, and a 350-seat underground lecture hall.
The ITE Building was met with some major obstacles. Delayed funding forced a late start. A carpenters’ strike occurred in the midst of construction. The “tight” project site was located between the School of Business, the Homer Babbidge Library, and two major student walkways. Site constraints forced the use of “soil nailing” along the underground utility tunnel by the School of Business – a 30’ deep cut, 100’ long – and underpinning at the Babbidge Library in order to construct an underground concourse connecting the lecture hall to the Library and the ITE Building. However, close coordination and collaboration with the project team allowed the project to proceed at a dramatic pace, with a certificate of occupancy in just 18 months and ultimately finishing ahead of schedule.
