King Hall Expansion Passes Halfway Mark
Construction of King Hall's new east wing passed the halfway mark in October, while the Dean's Office, campus architects and engineers, and Thomas Hacker Architects worked to finalize plans for the renovation of the existing building, which is set to begin immediately after the Law School takes occupancy of the new wing in May 2010.
The contractor, K.O.O. Construction, has made rapid progress in recent weeks toward the completion of the exterior walls. The brick façade is nearly complete, allowing the building to fare well during the storms that passed through the Sacramento region in October, and the exterior is expected to be fully weatherized by mid-November. The contractor is continuing to install concrete window sills and window frames, and from the northeast corner around to the front of the new wing, glass is being set in place.
Inside, multiple construction trades are busy framing interior offices and classrooms, hanging gypsum board, installing fire sprinklers, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning), plumbing, and electrical systems. The progress has made it possible to easily visualize where offices, classrooms, seminar rooms and reception areas will be when the structure is complete. On top of the new wing, the HVAC unit is in place, concealed behind a metal parapet.
The Dean's Office is working with the campus, contractor, and architect to plan various enhancements, including a drinking fountain in the courtyard, additional interactive displays/kiosks for way-finding, and enhanced donor recognition and branding signage within and outside the building.
In front of the building, in Mrak Circle, the university has started site work to install "the eggheads"-Robert Arneson's "See No Evil/Hear No Evil" statues that were removed from the lawn in front of King Hall when construction began. The eggheads will face one another atop small grassy mounds at the center of Mrak Circle.
Meanwhile, the Dean's Office, campus Architects and Engineers, and Thomas Hacker Architects have been busy finalizing plans for the renovation of the existing Law School building, which is set to begin immediately after occupancy of the new wing. The renovation will expand and consolidate student organization and journal offices in the basement, add a dozen group study rooms, create two new reading rooms and a reading lounge, add a second elevator, remodel existing bathrooms, and modernize the upstairs classrooms. Current plans call for the renovation to take 18 months, divided into three approximately equal phases: The first six months renovating the basement, the second six months the second floor, and the final six months the first floor.
When complete, the King Hall Expansion and Renovation project will provide the King Hall community with an additional 18,000 assignable square feet, as well as a new entryway and façade befitting a world-class law school. The east wing will be home to the new Kalmanovitz Appellate Moot Courtroom, and the renovated King Hall structure will include an expanded Mabie Law Library and feature improved traffic flow and aesthetics, new reading rooms, group study areas, and enhanced student organization spaces. The School of Law will enjoy an aesthetically striking and functionally state-of-the-art facility that will accommodate the latest technology and teaching techniques and provide tremendous flexibility as the Law School continues to develop well into the future.
Each phase of the King Hall Expansion and Renovation project draws upon state and university as well as private support. The Law School still must raise roughly $3 million toward the $8 million campaign goal in order to realize the full potential of the renovation.
To find out more about how you can support the project, please visit http://www.law.ucdavis.edu/alumni/giving/give-to-king-hall.html.
