North Carolina State University's high-tech library project, intended to transform collaborative learning, is itself educating its builders on the positive power that information technology has on design and construction. The team creating the $95.2-million NCSU James B. Hunt Jr. Library project in Raleigh met challenges inside and out—from difficulties with the customized curtain wall to a mechanical system rarely used in the Southeast.
Collaboration, coupled with a raft of information technology tools, has enabled the team to guide the project toward a happy ending. The 220,000-sq-ft, four-story library is on target for both schedule and budget, and set for a grand opening in January. And that is despite the bankruptcy earlier this year of Trainor Glass—the curtain wall contractor responsible for the building's signature and nonregular element—and the need to correct a metal deck deflection problem.