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U. of C. Satellite Designers to Get $20M Lab Built on Roof of Old Lab

By Sam Cholke | January 13, 2016 5:36am
 The Laboratory for Astrophysics and Space Research is getting a $19.9 million face lift.
The Laboratory for Astrophysics and Space Research is getting a $19.9 million face lift.
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Courtesy of the University of Chicago

HYDE PARK — The University of Chicago is spending nearly $20 million to expand space for satellite designers and space researchers.

But this time the university is not bothering to demolish the old lab and will build new space for physicists on the roof of the old space.

According to building permits issued in December, the university is nearly doubling the size of the Laboratory for Astrophysics and Space Research by building another two stories on top of the existing two-story lab at 933 E. 56th St.

The building at 933 E. 56th St. is tucked away in a corner of campus where strange white pods will occasionally appear stamped with a NASA insignia and few other clues about what they are.

The researchers who work in the lab have for nearly 60 years been some of the lead designers of the intricate mechanisms NASA sends hurtling into space.

As researchers move into the recently completed Eckhardt Research Center, 5640 S. Ellis Ave., the 38,500 square feet of the old lab will be completely renovated and an additional 25,000 square feet built on top of the existing structure for $19.9 million, according to the university’s facilities services department.

Once complete in the summer of 2017, the building will be the home of the Enrico Fermi Institute and the Kadanoff Center for Theoretical Physics, according to the university.

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