There’s some cutting edge architecture at Kansas University’s Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics. That might be why the roof was leaking Friday after a second day of rain.

“From what I understand it was a roof that was fairly experimental. There were a lot of aspects of this building you won’t see not only here in Kansas but across the country,” said Lawrence Bush, facilities and events director of the institute.

Bush said the roof leaked because of a faulty seam on the its copper tiling.

He called the building grand, but said “glitches” sometimes happened with new structural designs.

At the institute, employees placed mop heads on ledges below the ceiling to soak up water dripping from the roof.

“We have to be a little bit creative to mainly protect the floors.” Bush said, “Luckily, because of where the leaks are it doesn’t seem to be affecting the archives or the exhibits.”

The rain Thursday and Friday also took a toll on another of Kansas University’s newer buildings, the Student Recreation Fitness Center.

“I’d like to blame it on the Kansas weather, but we can’t do that.” said Mary Chappell, director of recreation services.

Buckets, mop pads and trash cans were in position at both the Dole Institute and the fitness center Friday. Both buildings are less than 2 years old.

At the fitness center, employees placed trash cans under removed ceiling tiles. Chappell said the ceiling tiles were removed when it rained last week.

As walkers exercise at KU's Student Recreation Fitness Center, rain from a leaky roof collects in trash cans. The building is less than 2 years old.

“We’ve had some leaks from the very beginning in 2003, and they’ve gone on since that time.” she said.

A mechanical design firm in Topeka determined heating and cooling coils froze in the winter and then burst, causing water to drip from the units. Chappell said because of the malfunction, rain blew into the units and made the problem worse.

Chappell said because of summer break the recreation center hadn’t been busy this week, which makes the problem easier to deal with and contain in areas that aren’t being used.

“We’re in a down time, and that’s fortunate for us. But next week when we have students and it rains again, we’ll have to keep a real close eye on it,” Chappell said.

6News video: Rain takes toll on KU buildings (06-03-05)

Both Chappell and Bush said university officials were working with contractors to fix the problems sometime over the summer.

By about 6:30 p.m. Friday, the Lawrence area had received about 2 inches of rain in 24 hours. 6News meteorologist Jennifer Schack said heavy rains were possible overnight, but those should come to an end this morning.

“We could pick up another one to two inches of rain,” by this morning, she said.