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Indiana University has chosen a prestigious location at the corner of Michigan and West streets in Indianapolis at the entrance to the IUPUI campus to construct a new Communications Technology (CTC) Building.
The building will be the center of IU's telecommunications infrastructure for IUPUI, its state network and its connections to other national and international networks. It will also house University Information Technology Services at IUPUI and the three laboratories that are to be located there as part of the Indiana Pervasive Computing Research Initiative (IPCRES), recently funded by the Lilly Endowment. Through public-private partnerships, other technology-related groups and possibly small business start-up facilities are likely to be located in or near the building as well.
The building will be about 100,000-square-feet in size and will house offices, a major machine room, laboratories and classrooms, as well as major networking facilities.
According to university officials, the CTC Building will serve as the anchor for an "Information Precinct" for high-tech instruction and research in Indianapolis. The precinct will include the area where IUPUI's University Library, the School of Engineering and Technology, and the School of Science are located. This precinct will include other planned structures in the area to form a new gateway to the IUPUI campus.
"The choice of this outstanding site for the CTC Building, directly adjacent to the business and government center of Indianapolis, symbolizes the vital role IU sees technology playing not just at the university, but in the state more broadly," said Gerald Bepko, IU vice president for long-range planning and chancellor of IUPUI.
Bepko said the master plan for the block between Michigan, West, New York and Blackford streets on which the CTC Building will be located will provide for five buildings as well as a ceremonial entrance to IUPUI off West Street, between the CTC Building and the new School of Law.
"This will become one of the major features of the university and the main window into IUPUI from the city," he said, noting that the location will also take advantage of new spatial relationships with museums, parks, the river and the city.
"The building will play a major role in telecommunications for the higher education and research community, both nationally and internationally, since it will house the Network Operations Center, not only for IU's networks but also the Internet2 Abilene network, the TransPAC network to Asia and a number of other high-performance research networks," explained Michael McRobbie, IU vice president for information technology.J. Terry Clapacs, IU vice president for administration, said that Robert A. M. Stern Architects of New York has been selected to design the building. Stern's extensive portfolio includes notable buildings at universities elsewhere in America.
"Robert Stern is widely regarded as one of America's most eminent architects and is also dean of the Yale School of Architecture," Clapacs said.
Groundbreaking is expected near the end of 2000, with building completion slated for 2002.
