VETERINARY MEDICINE FACILITIES

This is the largest, most costly and most complex project built at Iowa State.

In August 1964 the Board included a $3 million veterinary medicine building in the legislative request for the next biennium. Two years later the request was for a “new veterinary medicine complex, step one. This $4 million project would begin plans to build a completely new veterinary medicine college to replace the cramped and out-dated present buildings.”¹

The 62nd General Assembly, in 1967, appropriated $3,150,000 for Phase 1 of the project and in August the Board approved taking steps to select an architect. At the same time work began on the preparation of the building program. It was completed the following April. The architect had been retained in September 1967 and participated in many of the meetings between the University Architect and College of Veterinary Medicine faculty during the development of the building program.

Two separate agreements were entered into with the architect. One was for the overall, long-range schematic planning for the complete project, and one for development of drawings for the first phase of the work. Later, in December 1968, a new agreement was executed to provide for the increased project scope to include the drawings and specifications for the entire complex.

The schematic drawings were completed and approved in October 1968 and used in the applications for federal grants. Those drawings showed a three-level building. At the time the schematic drawings were completed the total project cost estimate was shown at $16 million, with half of the funds anticipated from federal grants.²

The years 1969 and 1970 were spent developing the drawings to meet the many detailed requirements of the several departments of the college. This entailed many meetings to work out all of the problems in reaching satisfactory and acceptable solutions.

A number of lengthy reviews of the drawings by the U.S. Public Health Service officials resulted in other modifications to the plans.

In 1971 the decision was reached to change from the three-level to a two-level building and all plans had to be redrawn. The documents were finally completed and were released to bidders in February 1972.

Construction contracts for phase 1 (the northwest half of the complex) were awarded in June 1972 and for phase 2 just a year later.

Construction of the entire complex was substantially completed in December 1975 and the building was occupied and in full use early in 1976.

The building houses the several departments of the College of Veterinary Medicine, including the large and small animal clinics, an extensive professional library, the Biomedical Engineering facilities and the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.