Location
Minneapolis, MN
Architect
VJAA Architects & BWBR Architects
General Contractor
Mortenson Construction
Industry
Education
Project overview
The University of Minnesota – Twin Cities recently completed upgrades to their nearly 100-year-old Fraser Hall. This $132 million project consolidated several different chemistry disciplines across several different halls into one central chemistry building for undergraduate level courses. With the renovations complete, Fraser Hall now features 18 new interactive laboratories, modern study method equipment upgrades, collaboration spaces, faculty offices, and general purpose chemistry classrooms. Fraser hall has roughly 117,000 square feet of space and will be the central science building for over 5,000 U of M students every year.
Project Scope
Fraser Hall certainly stands out with sweeping views of floor to ceiling glass and a shiny copper façade. Our team custom-fabricated 15,607 square feet of 16oz copper panels with personalized embossing and a natural copper finish. Each panel was pressed into a specially made stamp to give it a ribbed profile and then fabricated into our own S-Slip panel system for the main portions of the façade. At the curtain wall, vertical blade attachments were used to affix over 1,000 square feet of .080” aluminum sunshade fins directly into the glass curtain wall. The fins feature a curved profile with perforations and a copper anodized finish. The penthouse on the top of the building features several different systems including 7,853 square feet of Pac Clad’s 24 ga. snap-on batten standing seam panels in the custom “Fraser Gray” painted finish along with 1,820 square feet of louvers from Construction Specialties Louvers. 2,500 square feet of aluminum flush seam panels were fabricated and installed at the soffits, entrance overhangs, and parapet walls in that same custom “Fraser Gray” painted finish. The interior of Fraser Hall opens up with 1,500 square feet of “Fraser Grey” finished plate panels on the entryway. Additional interior work from our team includes copper composite panels at the southeast entrance, copper plated ACM panels at the north staircase, radiator heat covers, and other various interior decorative metal panels.
