Iowa State will

welcome a new state-of-the-art lecture hall to campus next year,

Troxel Hall.

The building is

named for ISU alumnus Douglas Troxel, president and chief executive

officer of a family, non-profit corporation, the <a href=

“http://www.changehappens.us/” target=”_blank”>Change Happens

Foundation.

The foundation

is donating $5 million to Troxel Hall and an additional $5 million

will be from Iowa State and some funds from the College of Liberal

Arts and Sciences.

The building

will be located east of Horticulture Hall and north of the Farm

House Museum, containing one large lecture hall focused primarily

around large chemistry classes.

<a href=

“http://www.econ.iastate.edu/people/faculty/hallam-arne” target=

“_blank”>Arne Hallam, chairman of the committee for Troxel Hall

and associate dean for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences,

believes there are two reasons the lecture hall will focus on

chemistry.

“The largest

lecture hall for chemistry right now sits 283, which moved big

chemistry classes to be taught in Hoover [Hall], which conflicts

with classes that are supposed to be in Hoover,” Hallam said. “The

other reason is there is not enough lecture halls that are set up

to teach chemistry.”

The lecture hall

will satisfy chemistry needs by containing demonstration

preparation rooms and storage rooms.

Half the lecture

hall will be underground to make sure the building is not shading

the greenhouses to the west.

“The committee

is doing lots of things to try to be as energy efficient as

possible; the goal is to be a LEED platinum building,” Hallam

said.

The roof of the

building will consist of growing vegetation.

“We are making

every effort to make the building one of the most sustainable

buildings on campus,” said Mark Grief, project manager for Troxel

Hall and architect for Facilities Planning and Management.

“Within the

roof, there will be some rain gardens which will help deal with

storm water control. One of the things that a green roof can

provide is storm water control, which helps lower mechanical and

electrical costs.”

Construction

will possibly be done November or December 2012 and classes to be

in the new facility would begin spring semester 2013.