Waiting area at the O’Neill Library - Boston, MABoston, MA Kaplan Construction, a WBE general contractor and construction management firm providing comprehensive building programs across Greater Boston, has wrapped up a series of projects for Boston College and Northeastern University.
Boston College: Kaplan worked on two projects at Boston College’s O’Neill Library, one of the center points of the college’s campus. Over the course of three months, Kaplan completed renovations at the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE). The two-phase project answered the school’s request for a well-located and attractive place for faculty to collaborate as well as to bring together staff members who were previously dispersed in different departments. The library was occupied during construction and Kaplan did much of its work after-hours to avoid disrupting students and staff.
“Our part of the project went great, we always knew in advance of work that would impact us as Kaplan always kept us in the communication chain, and the on-site project staff was also professional and responsive to our daily needs,” said Lyn Goode, manager of business and administrative services at Boston College. “Our new renovated space looks great and is being received well by the students and staff who are using it.”
Kaplan also renovated the main circulation desk and reconfigured the back office for increased efficiency and functionality. In addition, the interior renovations to a 5,400 s/f area encompassed the overhaul of classroom space and the construction of a new circulation desk and associated administrative areas, including adjustable counters for accessibility and new soffits and lighting for improved visibility. Kaplan also converted existing classrooms into 6 training/testing areas and a media viewing room.
Training and testing area at the O’Neill Library - Boston, MANamed for Rev. William J. Devlin, SJ, 15th president of Boston College, Devlin Hall is one of four buildings comprising the “Quad” in the Middle Campus. The Boston College Fine Arts Department Visual Resources Collection is a departmental collection of over 100,000 35-millimeter slides of works of art and a rapidly growing number of digital images. The Collection is used by Fine Arts Faculty for teaching purposes in Art History and Studio Art courses.
With a goal of creating a training room within the Slide Library, Kaplan shuffled library partitions to reconfigure the space, repositioned the slide storage units, created shelving units and renovated some offices. The 1,100 SF Slide Library has desktop computers for users as well as AV equipment, projectors and power/data for viewing slides from the collection.
Project team members include Lavallee Brensinger Architects (LBA) and BR+A Consulting Engineers.
Northeastern University: In its first project for Northeastern University, Kaplan renovated an existing interior laboratory at the Egan Engineering/Science Research Center for the College of Engineering and installed new mechanicals, lighting, fire alarm, finishes and millwork to create a new experimental laboratory. The research facility includes a grouping of labs that currently serve multiple professors and students. The new lab will contain a 1,300-gallon acrylic water tank for experiments and an adjacent space with workstations where graduate students can plan and review experiments. In order to minimize disruptions, the lab space has sound proofing features in the walls, ceiling and doors. During construction, the neighboring labs were operational so Kaplan and its sub-contractors coordinated work closely with Northeastern faculty and staff to reduce interruptions to ongoing experiments.
About Kaplan Construction
Kaplan Construction is a WBE general contractor and construction management company that provides comprehensive building programs including preconstruction planning, construction management, design-build services, and general construction for commercial, healthcare, multi-family, worship, and institutional clients. Serving Greater Boston since 1976, Kaplan is dedicated to building trusted, long-lasting relationships with its staff and clients based on professional teamwork, personal service, and quality craftsmanship. Kaplan has earned its reputation for excellent customer service and superb workmanship, and the company’s highly successful projects have garnered a long list of industry awards and repeat clients.
