The $10-million project was completed in July 2011 and included reconfiguration of the library and faculty offices to provide additional usable space.

“The library was kept open during the entire renovation process while school was in session,” says John Marshall with Satterfield & Pontikes. “The whole idea of BIM and what you can do with it continues to evolve and grow. For Jones Hall, when you are in an occupied building and active campus, you want to make sure that your plans are very, very well coordinated, very well thought out, and of course BIM allows you to look at that ahead of time.”

Jones Hall is a six-story, poured-in-place concrete structure with a 25-in.-thick roof and 12-in.-thick walls, making for a difficult task in cutting the dozens of openings necessary to install skylights and windows.

“When you’re cutting in windows and skylights into a big concrete building like that, you have
to be very cautious and make sure that you have redundant safety measures in place, and that’s what we did,” Marshall says. “It was an extraordinarily safe project, and we’re real proud of that.”

Key Players

Owner: University of Texas at Austin

General Contractor: Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc., Houston


Lead Design: Morris Architects, Houston


Structural: Haynes Whaley Associates, Austin, Texas

MEP: Jose i. Guerra inc., Austin, Texas

Submitted by Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc.