New buildings, renovations to benefit campus and Gulf Coast

Three major building projects received support from the Auburn University Board of Trustees at its Nov. 15 meeting, benefiting campus and coastal Alabama.

The board named an architectural firm for the College of Human Sciences’ new building project and announced a major renovation project for the College of Agriculture’s Comer Hall. It also granted final approval for a Samuel Ginn College of Engineering building project in Orange Beach, Alabama.

Officials in the College of Human Sciences have spent the past year actively fundraising and planning for a new academic and research building. The board agreed at its meeting to select Perkins & Will of Atlanta as project architect.

The college has needed a solitary building with adequate space to house programming, classes, labs and offices for decades. When Spidle Hall was constructed in 1962, it housed everything for the then-School of Home Economics. But with so much growth in student enrollment and research activity in the past 20 years, the college has a presence in eight buildings across campus, highlighting a need for a more adequate space.

The most notable sign of recent growth for the college came with the establishment of the Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center. The 142,000-square-foot, six-story building not only houses classrooms, labs and offices for the Horst Schulze School of Hospitality Management, but also 1856-Culinary Residence and The Laurel Hotel & Spa, both of which offer hands-on educational opportunities for Auburn students.

A new building would permit the college to locate the rest of its disciplines under one roof.

Comer Hall

Comer Hall, home of the College of Agriculture and a significant architectural building on campus, has received minor renovations and some preservation work since it was originally built in 1910, but it now warrants a major, comprehensive renovation. The proposed plan includes adding an elevator and ADA-compliant restrooms, comprehensive HVAC, electrical and plumbing replacements, a new roof and a complete exterior building envelope restoration.

To facilitate the design process, the board accepted the recommendation of the University Architect to hire Houser Walker Architecture of Atlanta as the project architect. The firm has successfully managed several comparable projects recently and possesses substantial expertise with Comer Hall.

The project will be financed by a combination of state, gift and bond funds.

Gulf Coast

The Samuel Ginn College of Engineering received final approval for its project to create the Gulf Coast Engineering Research Station in Orange Beach. The new building will provide dedicated space for researching coastal environments and communities of the Gulf Coast and opportunities for collaboration with other Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium institutions.

The new building project is expected to cost $14 million and will be financed by grant funds from the RESTORE Council in cooperation with the State of Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

ArchitectureWorks of Birmingham, Alabama, was previously selected as the project architect.

Other items

Additionally, the board:

• Accepted the sale of university property in Wilcox County and Bullock County. The decision was based on the Alabama Agriculture Experiment Station’s proposal to restructure and change its field research sites across the state by selling two properties to finance the purchase of new property with greater research potential and improve existing properties. 

• Authorized the purchase of property at the corner of Thatch Avenue and Gay Street in Auburn owned by Auburn United Methodist Church. The parcels’ proximity to campus will extend the university’s footprint on the east side of South College Street.

• Also, authorized President Christopher B. Roberts to take appropriate action to complete the design, construction and leasing of a suitable facility in Huntsville, Alabama, for the Auburn University Applied Research Laboratory (ARI). When the university purchased an existing facility in the Cummings Research Park in 2022, it established the Auburn University Research and Innovation Campus (AURIC). ARI was created the following year within AURIC to further the strategic goal of doubling the university’s research program. Growth has been so significant that ARI now needs additional research space. 

• Recognized Paul Patterson, who is leaving his role as the dean of the College of Agriculture and director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, effective Jan. 1. Arthur Appel, the college’s associate dean for research and assistant director of the Experiment Station, will serve as dean and director in an interim capacity while a national search is conducted.

The board was made aware of the establishment of a graduate certificate in neuroscience in the Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Harrison College of Pharmacy, and a veterinary social work graduate certificate in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, College of Liberal Arts, and the College of Veterinary Medicine, as well as the closure of a graduate certificate in movement skills analysis in the School of Kinesiology, College of Education.