Ohio State Board of Trustees approves design costs for Framework 2.0 projects

Zach Grader
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 03:17:06 +0000
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Campus Partners plans for 15th and High project Credit: Courtesy of Campus Partners

Updates to Ohio State’s future plans for campus, buildings and size, called Framework 2.0, are taking another step forward.

The Board of Trustees on Friday approved $45 million for designs of projects that are a part of Framework 2.0. The plans include updates to the design and infrastructure of research facilities, blueprint of a new arts district and development of an interdisciplinary health sciences center.

“Rather than approving all of the construction at once we are looking at an annual assessment of where we are,” said Keith Myers, Ohio State’s vice president of planning and real estate. “This also suggests that this will be a very active process.”

Arts District and Campus Gateway

The university is looking to the heart of campus, where East 15th Avenue meets High Street to create a gateway from off campus to Ohio State’s academic core.

In doing so, the university will relocate the Department of Theatre, expand Weigel Hall for the School of Music and add a moving-image production major.

“This is where we are heading with the arts district, the School of Music on the other side of the College Road, the Department of Theatre, and a new fine arts library which really creates a center for the arts district at the intersection of Annie and John Glenn Avenue and College Road,” Myers said.

Ohio State is also planning to consolidate the fine arts, music, dance and theatre library collections.

Interdisciplinary Research Building

Another campus addition will be a 380,000 square foot, five-floor interdisciplinary research facility.

The facility will bring a variety of different laboratories, each offering its own specific innovative and environmental research contribution.

“If you recall from the original framework, the Midwest Campus — near Morrill and Lincoln towers — was a vision to become a new research campus for the university,” Myers said. “This is the first building to go up there. It is on the intersection of Olentangy [River Road] and Woody Hayes Drive.”

In the future, the university looks to potentially create a twin duplex building to the south where a parking lot currently sits.

Interdisciplinary Health Science Center

Interprofessional education in the health sciences will be revamped with the interdisciplinary health sciences center project.

Faculty and classroom space, simulation labs and additional green space in between buildings will be added to the colleges of medicine, optometry, nursing and the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

The vision is to expand and renovate Hamilton Hall on Neil Avenue, and in doing so the university would have to make space by clearing out some space, Myers said.

“If you can envision the demolishing of Fry Bridge, and two wings of the Starline Loving, there will be small additions made to Hamilton Hall,” Myers said. “The new building would consist of about 54,000 square feet.”

Inpatient and Outpatient Services Center

The current plan in place for the Wexner Medical Center will give a major facelift to its ambulatory facility and outpatient services center.

The forthcoming designs will give the facilities more clinical space, add greater focus on research and teach empirical-based health care and design.

Ohio State is viewing inpatient and outpatient services as two separate projects, but applying similar goals and initiatives to both services.