Announcements

Science Hill construction activities advance along Whitney Avenue and Edwards Street

The Upper Science Hill Development (USHD) continues to move forward on the overall project. Since Yale’s notice in May 2025, demolition of the Pierson-Sage Parking Garage is underway. There is also highly visible construction progress, where the new Chemical Safety Building facing Prospect Street is nearing completion and the concrete superstructure for Wright Lab Addition (WLA) and Advanced Instrumentation Development Center (AIDC) is progressing well and is taking shape along Whitney Avenue.

There are also two new milestones to feature, including the early construction stages of a new parking garage and a temporary exterior wall mock-up of the WLA to aid in construction sequencing for that project.

New Parking Garage on Whitney Avenue

In support of the USHD, a new 421-car parking garage, which replaces the former Pierson-Sage Parking Garage now being demolished, will be located along Whitney Avenue near Bishop Street. Construction has begun with foundation work well underway. 

The crane required to erect the 120-foot-long precast concrete double-tee beams will be installed onsite by the end of September 2025. The actual lifting of the beams into place will begin in fall 2025 with all levels of the new garage expected to be completed by the end of the year, followed by the overall garage scheduled to open in summer 2026.

Wright Lab  Addition exterior  wall mock-up

A temporary, full-scale exterior wall mock-up for the WLA project has been assembled at the corner of Whitney Avenue and Edward Street. It includes all key components that will be used for the final building addition: structural steel columns and beams, concrete masonry unit backup walls, exterior sheathing, glazing, and the cladding systems. The location was selected because of its proximity to the construction field offices and its distance from the actual addition being built next to Wright Lab.

The main purpose of the mock-up is to verify construction sequencing, coordinate detailing, and to test the integration of materials and systems. It also will be used for performance testing to confirm air and water tightness of the exterior envelope.

Architectural materials comprising the façade will include a terracotta rainscreen system, textured precast concrete walls, aluminum framed glazing, and distinctive folded aluminum panels. After its performance testing, the mock-up will continue to support field coordination and quality control but will be removed at the end of spring 2026.

Upper Science Hill Development - Construction Related Notice to Science Hill Community

Map.Starting Monday, August 26, 2024, Turner will be making minor adjustments to the fence line in the WL entry area to facilitate foundation work, but we plan to have a flagger posted in the entrance area to guide pedestrians in & out of the facility, as needed.  We also plan to maintain an 8’ wide pedestrian path leading in & out of WL at all times.  These minor adjustments to the fence line will be continuing throughout the next few months.

On Friday, August 30, 2024, the ADA ramp at Wright Lab West will be open for use at 5:00 p.m.

Shutdown Notice: SPL Elevator

The elevator for SPL will be shut down/inoperable from July 23-26th in connection with the SPL  Basement Vent and Fire Upgrade project. If you typically use the elevator to move about SPL and cannot take the stairs, please plan to work remotely during this period.

Upper Science Hill Development - Construction Related Notice to Science Hill Community

Map.Beginning Monday, June 3rd, construction will begin on Phase 1 of the Upper Science Hill Development initiative. This phase will administer the construction of an new addition to Wright Lab, a New Parking Garage, a new YSB/Bass service node, a large geothermal borehole network and misc. utility infrastructure work to support this expansion.  As noted in previous Town Halls & campus communications, which can be found here, this work is the continuation of an expansion of Upper Science Hill to support a new Physical Sciences and Engineering Building.

As of June 3rd, the Science Hill community will begin to see changes to vehicular, cycling and pedestrian travel pathways. Leading up to this point, teams will begin to post and prepare temporary signage to help direct attention to new detours and changes to circulation pathways. The logistics plan linked indicates the initial areas of construction anticipated at the project onset. During the course of project, pedestrian & cyclist traveling from PSPG will be directed to Whitney Avenue to access buildings south on the Hill. There will be a clear walking path up the drive aisle for pedestrians seeking to access WL, WLW and Bass. Pedestrian access to the top deck of PSPG will also remain accessible for more direct access to WL and other facilities along the western half of Science Hill.

Vehicular traffic will still be permitted to access the remaining open portion of Lot 22 and the entrance to Pierson Sage Parking Garage. We will be keeping access to several vehicular charging stations and relocating handicap accessible parking spaces within Lot 22. Service vehicles seeking access to the various loading docks (KGL, Bass and YSB) will still be permitted to access these docks through the course of construction.

Summer Travel

Hand holding world globe.If you are traveling internationally during the summer whether for summer-long travel, vacation or business trips, please consult the Yale and the World International Toolkit Website or email world@yale.edu and also see Yale Travel’s information on International Travel.

For international students and scholars please consult the OISS travel guidance web page or email the designated OISS advisor. Advice on handling immigration emergencies can be found on the OISS Emergency page.

For the department and Wright Lab newsletters please send in photos and notes on your summer activities – be it travelling to new locations or even staying at home to do research it is all of interest and we’d like to keep our community updated over the summer. Please click here for your submissions.