After science faculty members evaluated preliminary architectural plans for the French Science Center, administrators this month passed the new $100 million multidisciplinary science building to the next step of the approval process, despite some concerns about teaching laboratory space.
The 162,000-square-foot facility - which will house all of the chemistry department, part of the physics department and the developmental, cell and molecular biology branch of the biology department - will be constructed behind the Biological Sciences and Physics buildings and connect to both to create a "science quad," said Berndt Mueller, dean of natural sciences.
The project also includes a renovation of part of the Biological Sciences and Physics buildings and construction of new greenhouses.
Mueller said the architects "still need to do a little bit of fine tuning, but everybody felt comfortable enough that they could proceed."
The "fine tuning" includes creating additional exit routes from the building, developing greater material storage space and reevaluating some of the teaching space, Mueller said.
When the chemistry faculty reviewed the plans about a month ago, they praised the modern research facilities, but many said they were disappointed with the 20,000 square feet devoted to teaching labs.
"It seemed like there was quite a bit less space than we currently have, and the space didn't seem to reflect any coherent planning," said Steven Baldwin, professor of chemistry. Baldwin and several other professors wrote a memo detailing their concerns, which has been passed on to Moore, Ruble and Yudell, the architectural firm overseeing the design of the French Science Center. Mueller said adjustments to the plans will continue through the end of March.
The center - named for Melinda French Gates' family after the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $30 million toward the project - will feature state-of-the-art research laboratories with modern safety features and improved separation of office and laboratory space. The new labs will be larger than current ones in the Gross Chemistry and Biological Sciences buildings.
Faculty members said the more versatile research labs will lead to greater collaboration. "Groups can expand and contract in the modularly designed labs," said Philip Benfey, chair of the biology department. "Currently we are somewhat restricted by lab space."
University architect John Pearce said faculty input was a primary component of the design process. "We're looking at the research facilities from the point of view of the way they want to teach," he said. "We want to be as flexible as we can in developing spaces that students and faculty will want to use 10, 25 years from now."
The new science center will open up space in the Levine Science Research Center, where DCMB is currently situated, and in the Gross Chemistry and Biological Sciences buildings. The Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy will receive space in the renovated part of the Biological Sciences Building, and the Medical Center will assume the office and lab space in the LSRC, Mueller said.
At the moment, there are no concrete plans for future use of the Gross Chemistry Building, which will be empty when chemistry moves to the French Science Center. Large science lecture classes will still take place there. Mueller said, however, that it is unlikely the Gross Chemistry labs will be used for research, as the expense of renovating them to meet modern safety standards is too great.
One possibility is that the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, which is currently split between the Old Chemistry Building and the LSRC, may move into the space to unify the school in one geographic location.
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