THE NEW CHEMICAL LABORATORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OP TEXAS W. A. FELSING,AUSTIN,TEXAS
the buildina. Three stairways lead from thr mound floor to d l other flours. The huilding is designed in the rhape of a n E, with the prongs of the E extending laboratory toreplacea60' X 60'two-story brick structure and six one-story wooden t o the south (see accompanying floor shadts of assorted sizes. After these plans plans). This shape is important & this were completed by the university archi- climate, since such a building catches the tects* and the author, the money for its prevailing Gulf breezes- of the summer. construction was not available, and i t was The two main prongs of the E are built not until November 23,1929, that the con- with corridors complete to the end to allow tract for the building was officially for future extension without any undue awarded.** The building, as pictured, alteration; the center prong contains the was opened for classes in the fall. Its large lecture auditorium and the chemistry cost, including all equipment, such library. The building is 300 feet long and 70 feet as desks, office furnishings, etc., was @40,000. The total area, exclusive of the wide, with the prongs of the E extending spacious attic, is 106.000 square feet. The out 25 feet past the main width. The two attic contains a distilled water room, a end prongs are 70 feet wide, while the cenhydrogen sulfide room, 46 exhaust fans, ter prong is only 54 feet wide. The ceilings and the numerous ducts, pipes, etc., neces- are high: it is 15 feet from the top of one sary for the proper distribution of exhaust, flwr slab t o the top of the next. The floors I. steam, water, and hydrogen sulfide. are of beam and slab (6") construction. The formation of the roof, a characterStructural Features istic feature of all University of Texas buildings. farces all hood installations to be The building has four stories, including made on the corridor side of rooms, the a n attic, a storage basement, and large serwalls there carrying the ceramic ducts. vice pipe tunnels 12 feet wide, 6'11 feet The building accommodates this semeshigh, running underneath the gcound-floor ter, on the three-semester-hour course corridors. There are five entrances, one on basis, 910 in general and desaiptive the north, two on the south, and one each chemistry; 183 in quantitative; 40 in on the west and east. There are also two qualitative; 240 in organic; 69 in pharmaentrances from the outside into the main ceutical and physiological; 108 in physical; lccture room, which allow the big classes to 47 in chemical engineering; and 96 in come and go without entering the rest of graduate courses and research. * A~chitects: HERBERT M . GREENE, There are eight lecture and drill rooms in the building, one accommodating 253, AND DAHL, Dallas, Texas. LAROCRE, ** General Contractor: J. E. MORGAN, one 125, and the rest between 50 and 60 El Paso, Texas. Plumbing and Heating: each. Thwe are 20 offices for professors. YOUNG AND PRATT, Lubbock, Texas. instructors. and tutors. Laboretory Equipment: W. H . KIMBALL The laboratory space of the east half of COMPANY, Chicago, Illinois. Library the ground floor is devoted t o chemical Equipment: SNEAD AND COMPANY, engineering and the shops, and the west half t o pharmacy and pharmaceutical Jersey City. New Jerwy. I69 I n the sprinrr . . of 1925 the Board of Regents of the I'nivrrsity of T r w s authorirrd the . nre~arationol plans for s new chemical .
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chemistry; the east half of the first floor is devoted t o physical chemistry, and the west half t o quantitative; the entire second floor is devoted to organic and qualitative, and the entire third floor to general chemistry.
Special Features
Structural. The building is a reinforced concrete pier, beam, and slab buildina, .including even a concrete roof. The outer
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walls, which bear only their own weight, are built of native Cordova cream limestone for the ground story up to the belt line, and a blend of cream and tan native hrick for the other stories. A small amount of terra cotta, too, is employed in certain decorative features. Mottled red and cream tile cover the concrete roof. Adorning the top story in large plaques are the names of 24 deceased chemists of prominence, one name to a panel. All interior walls and partitions are built of hollow tile, plastered, and painted with leadfree paint. The ceilings are painted concrete; a special~smoothconcrete finish was obtained by tongue-and-groove forming. The undergraduate laboratories are all of the same size: 38' X 25'/2', capable of taking care of 32 students a t one time (under the supervision of one instructor). The research laboratories differ in size t o meet certain specified types of research. Stock and Distribution of Supplies. The stock room is located in the basement underneath a portion of the ground floor and the lecture auditorium. There, alw, is located an alcohol vault. This stock room is vnnected by elevator to the distribution room on each floor, from which the students are supplied with materials. Each distribution room contains a key cabinet carrying the keys for all desk lockers on that floor. Adjacent t o and connecting with the first-floor distribution room is the curator's office, which also .contains a spacious vault for the storage of platinum and other specially valuable pieces of equipment not in use. Vextilation. The general ventilation of the laboratories, in addition to the usual Browne window ventilation, is carried out by means of hoods located on the corridor sides of the laboratories. The amount of air drawn out of the laboratories, primarily from the hallways, is sufficient t o change the air in each laboratory every 15 minutes. The hoods are of the open type, generally known as the Cornell type, after which they oatterned. The ventilation ducts . are . in the walls are redangular ceramic chim-
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ney tile, set in concrete mortar. From the top of these ceramic ducts in the attic to the exhaust fans and from the fans t o the louvres, the ducts are circular and are made of terne plate, covered both inside
and out with high-melting Texaco asphalt. These ducts are made of 8-fwt flanged sections, which can he taken down for repair or replacement. The exhaust fans, 46 in number and varying in size, are controlled
JANUARY. 1932
by remote control switches located on the front of the hood and they carry a red signal light to indicate that the fan is running. Plumbing. All sinks are of alherene stone. The waste lines are double extraheavy cast iron. All the main service lines (steam, air, water, gas, waste) are carried vertically in open risers, and horizontally along the outer wall below the windows. The risers connect to the main lines in the pipe tunnels underneath the building. Each pipe riser is valved, each lateral run is valved, and each desk is valved. The minimum of interference is thus anticipated when repairs need to he made. No pipe is hidden and all can he removed without interfering with any other pipe. The steam pipe is covered, even on desks, and is painted. All piping is painted with aluminum bronze paint. Hat water is furnished to the toilets and the two showers. Circulating ice water from an automatic refrigerating system is available a t two fountains on each floor. Laboratory Epuipmat. Laboratory desks, of the double free-standing type. are 17 feet long, 54 inches wide, and 37'/r i&hes high; wall desks are 17 feet X 30 inches X 371/2 inches. Each student has a working space of 51 inches X 24 inches. irrespective of the nature of the course. Research students are usually given space in multiples of this unit working space. The desk tops are of alherene stone a s are the reagent and servicC pipe racks. Each desk is furnished with gas, air. steam, water, drain, and D. c. and A. c. current. A sink is provided a t the end, into which empties the lead-lined trough extending the length of the desk. Each student has available a water suction pump and a nozzle for cooling water for distillation. Distilled water is furnished to each lahoratory through block-tin pipes coming from the reservoir in the attic. Each hood contains sin hydrogen sulfide openings with specially designed "fwlproof" cut-offs; this gas is led in lead pipe from the gasometers in the attic t o the hoods; cylinder hydrogen sulfide is used
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exclusively, though Parson generators are installed for emergencies. On each side of the h w d are shelves far reagents, shelves for platform balances, and shelves for electric and gas ovens. I n the physical chemistry laboratories the usual super-structure is missing on desks. Built-in thermostats of alberene stone aid in the general conduct of the usual laboratory work. Electrical Fmtures. Each double laboratory desk is equipped with eight (8) IlO-volt A.C.outlets, capable of carrying20 amperes a t each outlet simultaneously. At the end of each desk there are found two D.c. outlets, through which D. c. generator current a t 30 or 110 volts can be supplied. Each laboratory carries its own control panel. In the large chemical engineering laboratory and the smaller ones adjacent to i t 220-volt A. c. is available a t many stations, so that special investigational problems may be carried out. I n the physical chemistry laboratories, both undergraduate and graduate, are found, in addition t o the usual electrical outlets, the D. c. battery outlets. D. c. current is supplied to these circuits, in steps of 2 volts, from the storage battery room through the large special switchboard, supplied by the Electric Time Clock Co. of Springfield, Mass. The Lecture Room. The larger lectureroom desks a r e equipped to control ever" activity. I n and on the sides of the lecture desk are found openings forms, water, air. oxygen, and carbon dioxide. A built-in sink, covered with a Monel metal grating, serves both as a sink and as a hood for fumes. Thc exhaust fan for this hood is controlled from the desk. A. c. w e n t and battery and generator D. c. current outlets are available; the control switch for the window-darkening device is also conveniently located on the lecture desk. Every light in the room is controlled, either separately or as a whole, by a set of switches out of sight of the students. A signalling circuit to the operator in thc picture b w t h provides better co6peration between the lecturer and the operator.
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Movable and illuminated blackboards are convenientlv located: a roller shade. carrying the periodic classification, hides the silver screen when not in use, and a Proper acoustical treatment makes lecturing in this room a pleasure.
The Library The library is located in the central prong of the E, above the lecture audi,torium. It consists of a large reading room and two two-story stack rooms. The reading room, with 9 windows, is heautifully decorated and acoustically treated for quiet. This room is 50 feet X 24 feet and has 17-foot ceilings. It is equipped with the usual library tables and chairs, a small librarian's charging desk, and a reference or handbwk desk. The space between windows is given over t o shelving carrying large reference sets as well a s the current numbers of journals. The stack space is more than 100% greater than the present need, and future expansion t o the extent of about 600'% can be accomplished by the removal of some temporary walls. The library now contains about 6000 volumes, anmis a very complete working library. There are about 66 journal sets on the shelves. The library is named the "Mallet Library," in honor of DR. J. W. MALLET, the first professor of chemistry a t the University of Texas and the first chairman of its faculty.
