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Hale Library Blog

Building update: We’re in full swing!

Posted on by Cailin Riley

Spring is in full swing and we’re excited to share pictures of how things are growing at Hale Library!

Many projects are being fleshed out further and some spaces, including the Great Room, Joyce and Joe’s Cornerstone Café and the Sunderland Foundation Innovation Lab are visibly coming together. The Innovation Lab in particular is starting to take shape as crew members install drywall and create the rooms that will house technologies new to the library and campus.

A picture of the case coming along.
Various kitchen equipment has been installed in the cafe including refrigerators and reach-in coolers. With the counters now installed as well, this space is really coming together!

The Innovation Lab will be available to all students, staff and faculty at K-State, giving them access to new technologies such as digital media production, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, immersive digital environments and other emerging innovations. The lab will be located on the first and second floors of the library with a staircase connecting the two spaces.

The space also will include 14 3D printers, a Glowforge laser cutter and a studio that will allow users to record high-quality video with a single touch of a button. Two of the 3D printers will be FormLab SLA printers; these printers use ultraviolet light to create a strong but flexible resin often used for healthcare or engineering materials. The remaining 12 Ultimaker printers create materials by stacking melted material layer by layer.

A picture of Jahvelle Rhone holding a face shield.
Jahvelle Rhone, the media coordinator for the Media Center, holds a newly 3D-printed face shield. Jahvelle and the K-State Digital Fabrication Club have been using 3D printers to create these face shields for local healthcare workers.
A picture of Jahvelle Rhone and his family.
The whole family has been helping Jahvelle! Here, Jahvelle, his four children and his wife TeAndre show off the face shields they’ve been making. The DigiFab club has made more than 175 face shields so far to help local healthcare workers stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A picture of the digital media lab space, under construction.
This will be the new digital media lab. This space will be filled with computers containing various software including the same software that Disney animators use to create their works.
A picture of the future 3D print lab space.
This space located on the second floor of the Innovation Lab will host our 3D print lab with 14 3D printers.

The virtual reality room will allow visitors to explore their projects using 3D technology. For example, an architecture student would be able to view a 3D rendering of a building project as if it were right in front of them.

A picture of the future virtual reality lab space.
Three large screens will be installed in the virtual reality room on the first floor. In this picture, the pale yellow wall in the middle will hold the middle screen.
A picture of the future one-button lab space.
Work continues on the one-button studio, which will allow users to record high-quality video with a single touch of a button.

Crew members are continuing plaster work on the Great Room and installing light fixtures. With every new day, the space is looking more and more trim and polished!

A picture of the Great Room walls covered in pink adhesive material.
The pink material on the walls in the Great Room is a special bonding material that allows for better bonding between plaster and plaster, or concrete and concrete.
A picture of crew members working on plaster in the Great Room.
Several crew members focus on repairing plaster in the Great Room.
A picture of a crew member with ceiling lights grouped on the floor.
The white cylinders on the ground are actually ceiling lights for the Great Room; they sure do look bigger when they’re on the ground!

We hope you enjoy seeing the progress in Hale Library as much as we do, and we are thrilled that we are able to obtain regular photos to share with the K-State community. Our next blog post will be an extra special one, as we look at the immense amount of progress that has been made since the Hale Library fire nearly two years ago. Stay tuned!

One thought on “Building update: We’re in full swing!”

  1. Thanks for getting me back into the reading again. I really enjoyed the stuff you shared in the form of blogs. Keep writing.

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