ISEB takes shape

Certainly one of the biggest events on campus this year will be the opening of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building, the new research flagship on Case Quad.

Featuring five floors and nearly 190,000 square feet of laboratory, office, and research space, the glass and steel structure is expected to launch a new era of innovation and discovery when it opens this fall.

About 55% complete, the project was expected to reach another milestone by Jan. 1, with the “building dry-in,” or encasement of the building. With walls and windows in place, work can accelerate on the interior.

“Were making steady progress toward our goal of encasing the building by the first of the year,” Dean Tufts, vice president for campus planning and development, said in early December. “That will allow us to move forward with interior finishes as we stay on schedule for an October 2026 completion.”

The campus community has been watching ISEB rise next door to Tomlinson Hall for more than a year. The $300 million project is the largest ever building project on Case Quad. The university issued century bonds to cover $150 million of the cost and looked to philanthropy to pay for the other half. As of December, donors had contributed $118.5 million toward that goal.

Through the winter, tradespeople will be installing mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and hanging drywall floor by floor. Painting and flooring will come later, toward the project’s end, said Nick Christie, who is overseeing contractors as assistant vice president for the Construction Department at CWRU.

Meanwhile, workers have laid fresh dirt atop Geofoam blocks in lieu of traditional fill between ISEB and Tomlinson Hall, building the Veale Gateway that will provide a new, sloping entrance to the Quad from Martin Luther King Boulevard.

With glass glistening and handsome brickwork in place, ISEB is beginning to present itself as the landmark it was meant to be.

Get details on the project, and follow it live, at casealumni.org/iseb/