Artists' concept of Slawson Hall, part of the Earth, Energy and Environment Center

Malott Hall hasn’t been around since the earth began to cool, but Kansas University’s main science building at 60 years old is outdated and needs to be replaced, according to KU officials.

“This is absolutely a monolith that we have to move people out of to remain competitive,” Provost Jeff Vitter said recently.

The university has embarked on an approximately $82 million plan to replace Malott with two buildings that will make up what is being called the Earth, Energy and Environment Center, or EEEC.

For this effort, KU has collected about $50 million in private donations and received approval from the Legislature for $25 million in bonds.

KU officials say they hope to break ground on the project in 2015.

The school received a big boost in fund-raising for the EEEC in July when the family of the late KU alumnus Donald Slawson made a $16 million lead gift. Slawson Hall will be one of two buildings composing the EEEC.

The 95,000 square-foot Slawson Hall, near the corner of Naismith Drive and Jayhawk Boulevard, will include classrooms, auditoriums, laboratories and other multipurpose facilities to foster a wide variety of research. A portion of Slawson Hall will be dedicated to the transfer of discoveries and developments to real-world applications.

The second building, to be named Ritchie Hall in honor of KU alumni and donors Scott and Carol Ritchie, will be about 50,000 square feet.

The EEEC will represent the first phase in an $800 million science and technology corridor that is part of KU’s master plan.

Vitter also is hoping the construction of the EEEC will help prompt the Legislature to commit to assisting in funding the construction of two other science buildings.

Vitter says the creation of new teaching and research space will “attract the best and brightest” to KU.

So what will happen to Malott? One wing may be torn down, Vitter says, while the rest of the building is repurposed for offices.