The Academic and Laboratory Science Building

Southern's ongoing expansion of its science programs will be greatly enhanced with the planned construction of a 98,332-square-foot, four-level academic and laboratory science building. Situated adjacent to Jennings Hall, the current home for the sciences, the new building will enhance the ongoing expansion of Southern’s science programs and the university’s capacity to educate more students in the STEM disciplines – science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Configured in the shape of an “L,” the new building will work in concert with two pre-existing science buildings — Jennings and Morrill halls — to enclose a new “science enclave.” Bedecked with scientific displays and instrumentation visible from within and outside the building, the new center will assume a symbolic role for the sciences on campus. Embracing innovative sustainable design, it will house teaching and research training laboratories for nanotechnology, physics and optics, the earth sciences, the environmental sciences, cancer research, astronomy, molecular biology and chemistry.

The building’s two wings will be connected at each of its four floors by an alluring connector windowed along its southern exposure and encircling the newly formed science enclave outside. It is along the glass-enclosed path that built-in displays of optical phenomena, the natural environment, nanotechnology, geological formations, biological specimens, and astronomical observations will be interspersed among sun-filled lounges, all to advance interaction among the different scientific disciplines housed within.

This four-level connector will expand at its mid-point to form an oval-shaped, faceted glass quadrangle. Through this focal point, passersby outside will be able to peer into the science enclave to glimpse its geological garden of boulders, its system of rain water aqueducts leading to an underground cistern, a commissioned science sculpture, and its hand-on experimental botanical garden. The interior of the glass piazza will display structural elements that echo the shape and function of the fish’s skeletal vertebrae, an impressively large aquarium, an oversized mock nanotube, balcony rails that glow with gossamer scientific effects, phase change elements that alternate between states of motion and rest, and a small impromptu video theater, all intended to set this centerplace ablaze with wonder.

Pitched roofs will shelter two attics full of industrial fans exhausting 83 fume hoods. They have been pitched to accept future photovoltaic solar collectors on their south oriented slopes. A portion of the roofs have also been left flat to accommodate six experimental, Dobsonian telescopes that will, on occasion, be wheeled from their “home port” garage, located under the pitched roof, into their pre-set roof top formation for seminal astronomical experiments throughout the year.

With the aid of computerized 3-D shading studies and energy models, the south facing glass curtain wall system has been designed to employ a variety of solar devices including different glazing types and shading coefficients, glass frit patterns, insulated opaque panels, spandrel glass, sun screens and sun shades. Sun-filled sitting areas will be shaded from glare, while a high-mass masonry wall will act as a heat “flywheel” under the passive solar heat gain. Different interior occupations along the curtain wall have distinct solar shading responses appropriate for their particular purposes. Kinetic finials integral to the curtain wall’s exterior will be either functioning or ornamental scientific instruments on display. They will give the building a language to signal that it is a place of scientific study, research, and discovery.

KEY FEATURES

• ConnScu Center for Nanotechnology located on the ground floor, where the laboratory space is designed to isolate the building vibrations, a necessity when dealing with microscopic materials.
• Expanded wings for Earth Science, Environmental Science, Molecular Biology, Chemistry, The Center for Coastal Marine Studies, and Physics teaching and research laboratories.
• A supercomputing laboratory for research in theoretical science, bioinformatics, and computer science.
• Saltwater aquaria room with touch tank and phytoplankton grow tank, which will be the centerpiece of outreach to area schools and the community.
• Village walkway on the first and second floor, to encourage student/faculty interactions and provide sunlight to all areas of the building.
• Scientific displays throughout, illustrating the research interests of faculty and the students, including a replica of a nanotube — a focal point in the center of the building.
• Connections to the existing science building, Jennings Hall, at the ground level and upper level.
• Outdoor rock garden showcasing rocks indigenous to Connecticut. The garden will also serve as an earth science laboratory.
• Faculty garden, which will add to the campus’ sustainability focus.
• Rain water collection, which will be used to water the science quad and faculty garden.
• Two 50-seat classrooms, conference space, and student study areas.

CONSTRUCTION COST

• $49 million

ARCHITECT

Centerbrook Architect and Planners, LLC, Centerbrook, Conn.: designers of the College of Arts and Sciences, Carl Hansen Student Center and TD Bank Sports Center at Quinnipiac University; Peabody Museum, Kroon Hall, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and Prospect Place Modular Building at Yale University; Chemistry Building and School of Business at the University of Connecticut.

PROJECTED TIMELINE

Spring 2013 – Spring 2015

NAMING OPPORTUNITIES

Exterior
   Rock Garden
   Science Garden
   Rainwater Collection System
Lower Level
   Center for Nanotechnology
   Lower Level Theatre
   Lower Level Wall Murals
First Floor
   Physics Wing and Associated Laboratories
   First Floor Village Walkway
   Two Aquaria
   Nanotube Light Fixture
Second Floor
   Earth Science Wing
       and Associated Laboratories
   Astronomy Control Room
   Environmental Science Laboratories
Third Floor
   Chemistry Wing
       and Associated Laboratories
   Molecular Biology Wing
       and Associated Laboratories

ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

   Kinetic Displays
   Two 50-Seat Classrooms
   Student Study Areas
   Conference Rooms
   Touch Tank