Warning - Construction Ahead!

3-02-01 - In the next few weeks (and even months), there will be a few construction projects in and around the labs. There will be some noise and some dust, but when it is all over, things should look and work pretty good.

The first project is something that has been in the works for about a year. The old darkroom suite, next to the labs, is being remodeled into three offices and two storage rooms.

What does this mean for the labs? Well, one of those offices will be mine, complete with a door and window into the labs. This means I will have more space to talk with students and faculty, and a little more privacy in which to write more tutorials and tips for the labs, while still being able to hear and see what is going on in the labs. It also means that the support staff will have more storage and we won't have to work around machines that are in transition (like the 8600s all last semester and the other ton of stuff we need to store).

This project is the reason for some of the increased noise we've been having in Mac Teaching Lab. It is also why closing the lab door (which we really should not do) does not clear up the noise problem during class. The construction is scheduled to be completed within three weeks. The contractors have agreed to wait to cut through the wall on the labs side until spring break, luckily, but we still may have some disruption in our normal routine.

The teaching labs will be closed during spring break (mainly because we may not have power to those rooms consistently while they reroute some wiring), but the Open Lab (446) will be open on a limited basis (8am - 5 pm, M-F). We are going to try to move one of the printers to 446 temporarily, but that may not be feasible (they weigh quite a bit). We'll have to see.

The other project is a little different. If you are in the Design Build class this semester, you already know what is going on. For the rest of you, think "little windows into the labs and a nice presentation area in the landing by the elevators". That's right, the Design Build students will be cutting holes in the lab walls to insert windows and areas to display student digital work. Three of the areas will feature iMacs which will display student animations and still images. This should add interest to the labs spaces.

There is a lot more involved that just the lab walls, however. There are plans for a digital presentation area, with a large plasma screen, DVD player, a way to hook up your laptop, acoustically friendly flooring, good lighting, pedestals to display models, partition walls which will display 2-D work and allow some privacy during critiques. This should end up being a good area to present.

Well, that is the scoop on our construction projects for this semester. But that is not all we are doing to make this place better. This summer, we will be rewiring the entire building for faster Ethernet. This means we will have intermittent connection dropouts, but we still don't know what dates specifically and for how long (scheduling classes should be really fun this summer). By the end of this, however, we will have increased performance, reliability, and more wireless coverage. It will be worth it! Once I get more information, I will try to pass it along.

So, that's it. We'll have to put up with a little mess and a little noise for a little while longer, but our spaces will become a little more interesting and pleasant to work in.

-J

Jennifer Nieland is the lab coordinator for the College of the Design student computer labs. Watch for my Mom, Nikki, on KCCI's Pick a Survivor Challenge Monday morning from 7-8 am! She has a chance to win $88,000! All I can say is, Mom, good luck, and think "California vacation"...