Design-Build university construction is one of The Korte Company’s unique areas of expertise. We’ve built for universities across the country, and we’re proud that our work adds to higher education. This library construction project in Champagne is one of our strongest builds.
It’s a remote Library Storage Facility at the University of Illinois. And it’s the first project completed by the Capital Development Board (CDB) under the Illinois Design-Build Procurement Act of 2005. The project was so successful that CDB asked Korte representatives to participate in statewide presentations demonstrating the effective use of the Design-Build process.
The project consisted of a 9,900-square-foot, open bay building addition to the existing library storage facility. The addition had a 50-foot clear height to accommodate 45-foot-high shelving systems. The floor required a super-flat surface to meet the requirements of the book retrieval equipment.
The books stored in the building are exceptionally rare and valuable, requiring tight controls on temperature and humidity. We designed the mechanical system to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and maintain the storage area at 50 degrees and 30% humidity all year round. The security and environment of the existing library storage vault was maintained throughout the construction of the addition.
