Demolition of E. B. Fred Hall

 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison 

in the Summer and Fall of 2004

Monday, August 30

1 and 2: These photos show the aftermath of some excitement I missed while away for the weekend. Between Friday noon and Monday evening, the Komatsu reduced the laboratory teaching wing to a mound of rubble (Photo 1) which it climbed over on its way to the front (south side) of Fred Hall, obliterating the main lecture hall (Room 25) on the west end of the building in the process (Photo 2).

3: A farther-away view from Babcock Drive by the parking lot.

Tuesday, August 31

3A: A view of the windowless west end of Fred Hall at its greatest height. The troublesome stills can be seen on the top floor gleaming in the sunlight, directly above Room 25's troublesome projection booth which – along with the south entranceway to the ground floor – is mostly hidden behind the growing rubble pile.

4 through 6: Work proceeds on Room 118G and Ken Todar's office (Room 23) directly below. Note how accumulated rubble on a floor should help in its collapse into the room below. (In a multistory building, a chain-reaction of pancaking floors would be the intended effect.) Slowing things down a bit was the heavy reinforcement of the building's concrete which consisted of iron rods of varying widths. This material is known as rebar – short for reinforcement bar – and will be seen to be an important item in the metal reclamation process.

It was interesting to note the non-insulated hot-water pipes running through the walls of Room 118G which was a preparation room for the teaching labs and also my office from 1968 through most of the 1970s. With additional heat from the afternoon sun, we really baked in that room!

7: Randy, the Komatsu operator, contemplates a wall still standing. Those ubiquitous green brick walls provided much of the support in the building, and coming at them from the sides was sometimes the only way to disrupt their integrity.

8 through 10: For those who remember MacGyver – the hero of the popular seven-season TV show who solved all technical problems and made life-saving decisions quickly with the aid of materials at hand – the method seen here would probably fit his character. In fact, macgyvering was the general term employed here when a water pipe was used to poke holes in the recalcitrant wall, helping ultimately in the collapse seen below in Photo 15. A composite view is seen here (with a larger version here).

11 through 15: With the Komatsu bearing down upon roof and floors and cutting through concrete and the rebar, we see the further collapse of this part of E. B. Fred Hall. Shown with Randy in Photo 13 and also maintaining a steady presence throughout this project is Jeff Teagarden, Vice President and Project Manager of Dore and Associates Contracting, Inc.

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