Division of

Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

 

The countdown is on for the completion of Oklahoma State University’s New Frontiers Agricultural Hall, the state-of-the-art headquarters of OSU Agriculture that will house the Ferguson College of Agriculture, OSU Ag Research and OSU Extension.

 

For the past few months, the focus of exterior work on the building has been dedicated to installing windows and brick.

 

Mandy Gross, senior manager of strategic and vice president communications for OSU Agriculture, sat down with Devon Madden, senior project engineer for Flintco, to discuss specifics about the windows and brick installed in the New Frontiers Agricultural Hall.

 

• How many exterior windows are in the new building?

  There are 232 windows and 35 different sections of curtain wall throughout the exterior of the New Frontiers Agricultural Hall.

• What is the process to install and check for leakage of the windows?

  After the windows and weather barrier are installed, a percentage of the overall windows are selected for water and air leakage tests. For this project, we used ASTM 1105, which is a standard procedure for determining the resistance to water penetration under uniform or cyclic static air pressure differences of installed exterior windows. The windows must pass the selected testing before masonry can start. The same goes for all the curtain walls, but we used the American Architectural Manufacturers Association 503 water test, a voluntary specification for field testing of newly installed curtain walls.

• How much interior glass is used in the building?

  There are 70 different sections of interior glazing throughout the building.

• What is the estimated date of completion for the exterior windows in the building?

  Window installation was completed in ​September 2023, and all curtain walls are scheduled to be completed in April 2024. 

• Why was brick used for the exterior of the building?

  We used the campus standard “OSU Blend” brick to match the rest of the buildings on campus per design.

• How many bricks will it take to cover the exterior of the building?

  It will take around 300,000 bricks to complete the brick masonry on the New Frontiers Agricultural Hall. 

• Why was the brickwork started on the north end, and then moved to the south end before the front and back of the building?

  This was due to the coordination between other exterior activities such as the windows and curtain walls. Once the brick was completed on the north elevation, they moved to the south because all the windows and weather barriers were completed. 

• What is the estimated date for completion of the masonry?

  Brick installation is scheduled to be completed in April 2024.

The New Frontiers campaign was launched in January 2020 to build a new state-of-the-art facility for OSU Agriculture. The New Frontiers Agricultural Hall, expected to open in fall 2024, further advances teaching, research and Extension efforts that are critical to the state’s economy, citizens’ safety and quality of life. By advancing OSU Agriculture and its programs, New Frontiers is fostering innovation to help feed the world.