The “eye catching” materials being used to reclad the Holmes Student Center tower should “outlast” the deteriorating materials originally used to construct the tower about 22 years ago.

Conrad Miller, Physical Plant project manager, said the first step in the process of removing the north balcony and some of the bricks from the west elevation is completed. The recladding process began April 3.

The brick covering the building will be replaced with off-white five feet by two feet handset limestones and a pyramid shaped copper dome on the roof and the windows will be replaced with more “energy efficient” windows, Miller said.

Because the building was poorly constructed, “the brick that is presently on (the student center) has allowed moisture to get behind them,” Miller said.

The weepholes that are supposed to allow the water to escape from behind the brick were installed “improperly,” Miller said. The non-functioning weepholes caused the building to endure the “freeze-thaw” cycle that contributed to the tower’s deterioration, he said.

The brick presently on the tower will be replaced with limestone to offset the water seepage problem, Miller said.

The limestone that will cover the tower is the same type used to construct the Empire State Building in New York and is known to be a strong material, he said.

The brick will be removed in sections and immediately replaced with limestone to limit the amount of time the inner wall is exposed to the elements, Miller said.

A copper pyramid will be constructed on top of the roof in June or July to fill in a flat dip that accumulates rain water, Miller said.

“Copper roofing is probably the best roofing material man has ever come across. It has withstood the test of time,” so it will “not have to be replaced every 20 years,” he said.

Ridge lighting will be installed on the roof, Miller said. The lighting tubes will extend from the top of the pyramid to the base on all four sides, he said.

The “very soft white lighting” will make the building stand out to people traveling to NIU on Interstate 88 and will make the building more suitable for a college campus, Miller said.

The tower’s windows also will be replaced in June because of a wind seepage problem about which some student center hotel guests have complained, Miller said.

The construction project has progressed on schedule so far and will be completed by Nov. 1 if the weather remains stable, he said.

Miller said rain is not as much of a problem as wind in preventing builders from working on the tower.