Part of the ground floor of Curtiss Hall will be closed next month due to removal of toxic substances.

Asbestos and lead paint will be removed as the first of a number of phases that will take place over the next five years as the historic building is renovated.

David Acker, associate dean of global agriculture programs, said Curtiss Hall is more than 100 years old. Since the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is one of the top five “really strong” colleges of agriculture in the nation, it is time the building gets a facelift.

“We need to look cutting edge and look the best,” Acker said.

The renovations will have two themes: student-centered and sustainability.

Acker said the CALS looked at how it is currently serving students in Curtiss Hall and determined what ways it could improve those services.

“It’s like a treasure hunt,” Acker said. “We’re searching high and low for things that should be accessible.”

From the analysis, the CALS decided to transform the ground floor into the student services hall. Everything that a student needs will be located on that floor, including the career, study abroad, minority student and global agriculture offices, as well as the welcome center for the college.

A commons area, similar to the one in Gerdin, will also be constructed. The area, to be located beneath the Curtiss auditorium, will include a cafe, conference rooms and alcoves where students can meet.

The second theme centers around the CALS’s goal to make Curtiss Hall as sustainable and energy-efficient as possible.

Acker said they want to have the building meet the gold level of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. The LEED standards look at how environmentally friendly a building is, whether or not supplies were bought locally, how much of the old material was recycled and the efficiency of heating and cooling systems.

“We’ll be proud to say our building has achieved that standard,” Acker said.

One of the challenges of the project is that Curtiss Hall is very old and there is little space to work with.

“Space has always been an issue,” said Brian Meyer, program director of agriculture communications.

All the funding for the project will be privately raised, Acker said. Students will not have to pay for any of the renovations.