The Indiana University Board of Trustees has approved upgrades to the Data Center on the Bloomington campus, as well as two architectural designs – one for a replacement north grandstand at Armstrong Stadium on the Bloomington campus and a second for gateways on the western edge of the IUPUI campus.
The trustees met Thursday and today on the Bloomington campus, with Vice President for Capital Planning and Facilities Thomas A. Morrison presenting the requests.
A $12 million project to upgrade and expand the electrical and cooling infrastructure serving the Data Center on the Bloomington campus was approved. The Data Center provides space and infrastructure for computing technology services for all Indiana University campuses via the statewide I-Light optical fiber network, including enterprise technology systems and servers as well as research and scholarly high-performance supercomputers like Big Red II+.
This project will include enhancements to the overall reliability and backup capabilities of the Data Center’s infrastructure, particularly in the event of a power failure and during equipment maintenance, while also increasing electrical and cooling capacity. Updates will include equipment such as power distribution units and electrical panels, an uninterrupted power supply, emergency power supplies, computer room air handling units with related controls and mechanical distribution systems and a generator, a chiller and water-to-water heat exchangers to create a new liquid cooling direct-to-server chip loop. These upgrades also will position IU to be extremely competitive for advanced research computing initiatives.
“In its first decade of use, the IU Bloomington Data Center has been an amazing asset for all IU campuses,” said Bradley C. Wheeler, vice president for information technology and chief information officer. “These needed upgrades, along with the already completed 100 Gigabit I-Light fiber optic network across the state to all IU campuses, will enable the Data Center to do even more as IU competes at the highest levels for federal research supercomputing contracts and grants.”
More news from the IU Board of Trustees meeting
The architectural design for the North Grandstand facility at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the Bloomington campus also was approved. The central portion of the existing structure will be demolished and replaced with a new, two-story building. The facility will house support spaces for the men’s and women’s soccer teams, including locker rooms, training room and offices. It will also include an event space of about 800 gross square feet on the second level, overlooking the soccer field and track. Exterior terraces will flank the perimeter of the second story.
Existing structures on the east and west sides will be renovated to provide bicycle support space for the Little 500 race on the east side and universally accessible public restrooms on the west side. The existing bleachers attached to these east and west buildings will be retained and can accommodate about 400 spectators. The existing buildings also will be repainted to complement the new center building.
The exterior design of the new center structure maintains the architectural characteristics of recent campus athletic facilities, including Andy Mohr Field and Bart Kaufman Field, with buff split-face concrete blocks, smooth accent bands, and metal panels and canopies. Portable bleachers for soccer matches to accommodate about 550 spectators also will be available on the west end of the soccer field for up-close views of the field.
Also receiving approval were designs for two new gateway elements on the IUPUI campus. To be located on the southeast corner of Michigan and Porto Alegre streets, and the northeast corner of New York and Limestone streets, these gateways will complement two recently completed gateways on West Street to create a consistent campus identity on the eastern and western campus edges.
The gateways are to be made of durable, timeless materials including limestone, stainless steel and precast concrete. Each of the monuments will be illuminated in the evening to clearly mark these entries into campus.
Beth Feickert is a capital planning project specialist for the IU Office of the Vice President for Capital Planning and Facilities.
