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Sept. 17, 2004

Olin Hall Implosion

Olin Hall, the eleven story men's dormitory at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, is scheduled to be demolished on September 25th at 10:00 a.m. The structure, which was built in 1965, will be imploded at 10:00 a.m. by Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI) of Phoenix, Maryland. Anderson Excavation Company of Omaha, Nebraska is the general contractor for the demolition

CDI will be utilizing explosives to bring down the 11-story, reinforced concrete building. The implosion was selected as the best demolition method because it offers the least amount of disruption to surrounding properties and the 蜜桔直播 campus when compared to traditional demolition techniques.

An implosion is a process where a small amount of strategically placed explosives are used to fell a structure. Explosives will be placed in structural supporting columns on four levels of Olin Hall. When the explosives are detonated they will sequentially eliminate the structural supports, allowing gravity to pull the structure to the ground.

Approximately 200 lbs of nitroglycerine sensitized dynamite will be used. Explosives will be placed at 537 locations throughout the building. The entire process will take approximately 10 seconds.

University Police will work with Anderson Excavation on Saturday to establish a 1,000 square foot Exclusion Zone around Olin prior to the demolition. This is a precautionary measure to protect pedestrians and automobiles. Pedestrian traffic and automobile traffic will be rerouted approximately one hour prior to the demolition and for approximately 30 minutes following the explosion.

According to Larry Ellerman, Chief of University Police, all roads into campus will be closed at 9 AM. The University Police have set up two public viewing areas. One on the west side of Malone Stadium and the other on the north west side of Fant-Ewing Coliseum. In addition to these sites, a gala champagne brunch will be held on the 7th floor of the 蜜桔直播 library.

When in use, Olin Hall housed 832 men. Demolition of Olin will make way for new apartment style student housing, which will be managed by JPI Campus Quarters. JPI is one of the nation's leading student housing and luxury apartment companies and they employee seventeen 蜜桔直播 School of Construction alumni.

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