The yet-unnamed new science center located on Church Street passed many construction milestones over the summer and is on track for its anticipated 2026 completion. It will replace Hall-Atwater in serving the Molecular Biology & Biochemistry (MB&B), Chemistry, and Biology Departments.

“The four-level structure, designed by Payette Architects, will house 39 research and support labs, 10 classrooms, nine teaching labs, a vivarium, greenhouse, outdoor spaces, and the Advanced Instrumentation Lab,” Campus Reporter and Media Relations Associate Mike Mavredakis wrote in The Wesleyan Connection.

The excavation of the site was completed in March 2023, and the main foundation was finished in July 2023. Currently, the steel structure is being built and the initial installation of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing components is underway. The managers share that the whole project is about a month ahead of schedule.

Senior Project Manager Michael Rosalie, Director of Utilities and Infrastructure Andrew Plotkin, and Vice President of Construction and Infrastructure Alan Rubacha have worked together to oversee the construction. The three collaborated on a written statement explaining how they kept the project on time.

“The construction team has been very diligent about purchasing all long lead equipment early in the process to counter any supply chain issues,” the statement read. “The construction team has worked closely with the regulatory agencies at the state and local levels and all of the required permits were obtained in a timely manner.”

Favorable weather conditions have also contributed to the efficiency of the project.

The managers also mentioned that both the construction and the operation of the building are meant to be environmentally sustainable. During use, the building will have an energy use intensity (EUI) score—that is, energy used per square foot—of 83, whereas Hall-Atwater’s EUI is 320.

One technique for reducing energy use will be to eliminate unnecessary airflow. Rosalie said that fume hoods are one of the largest energy consumers in a lab. In the new science building, fume hood ventilation velocity will be reduced from 100 to 60 feet per minute maintaining the required ventilation through the hood. Fume hoods will also start and stop ventilating automatically, on timers, to reduce the unnecessary operation of fume hoods in unoccupied rooms. They stated that overall lab ventilation will be automated as well.

“Smart ventilation using a system called Air Acuity will allow precise ventilation to reduce minimum building air changes by continuously monitoring air quality,” the statement read. “This will allow us to reduce the building air changes to 4 per hour during occupied times and 2 per hour when unoccupied.”

Other features of the new science building will reduce heat loss to minimize energy consumption. It will have high-performance walls and roof assemblies, triple-pane windows, and a unique double-skin glass facade that will allow natural sunlight and warmth into the building in winter, but insulate against excess heat in summer.

The science center, funded mainly through donations and the University’s existing funds, is intended to improve the environment for STEM research. The building is structured to foster partnerships between labs in the Chemistry, MB&B, and Biology Departments. Chair of the Biology Department Michael Singer thinks the building will promote collaboration in those fields, but believes the building will be somewhat isolated from other natural science and mathematics (NSM) departments.

“The building will have shared write-up spaces that will also allow for collaboration and interaction between different labs,” Singer wrote in an email to The Argus. “There will, however, be more of a physical separation between those departments and the rest of the NSM departments. This separation is a concern to some faculty, such as members of the molecular biophysics program and the CIS [College of Integrative Sciences].”

The managers hope to create a building that will stand the test of time as the University rapidly approaches its bicentennial and plans for its third century of operation.

“We’ve worked to ensure the building is constructed out of durable and high quality materials so that it may last a hundred years,” the statement read. “The building itself is highly energy efficient: LEED gold, 75% reduction in energy usage from lab baseline, making it three times more efficient than Hall-Atwater.”

In the hope that the building will be a campus hub for many years, the managers worked to make the space inviting and accessible.

“It’s been important for us throughout the project to enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion by providing clear wayfinding, and comfortable, welcoming spaces,” the statement read.

Chair of the Chemistry Department Brian Northrop said that in this regard, the new science center will be an upgrade from Hall-Atwater.

“Hall-Atwater has become somewhat of a patchwork of labs, offices, and teaching spaces that’s been forced to adapt to departmental needs on the fly and in the confines of the building as is,” Northrop wrote in an email to The Argus. “The new science center offered essentially a clean slate that’s allowed [the Chemistry Department] to help design teaching and research spaces proactively to meet our needs, rather than reactively whenever issues come up.”

Chair of the Molecular Biology & Biophysics Department Scott Holmes agrees that this science center is a much-needed improvement for the NSM departments.

“The Hall-Atwater and Shanklin buildings are functional, but they have required many repairs and renovations to maintain a reasonable infrastructure for our research and teaching,” Holmes wrote in. “We were overdue for a ground-up replacement.”

The managers discussed their intentions in the design of the new science center, its surrounding areas, and its relationship to existing University buildings and spaces. Through the very architecture and location of the new center, they hope that it will become a mainstay of campus life.

“The building is situated…to be a campus gateway, as one approaches from High Street,” the statement read. “Entry points into the building align to existing circulation paths along College Row, Butterfield, and Exley Science Center, with a new large green space for gathering between the west façade and Shanklin. [It] will be called ‘Wesleyan Place’ which was a street that [existed] before Hall-Atwater was constructed and will be a large green space with outdoor informal learning space and places to relax.”

Holmes discussed how the design of the center could help foster deeper, more engaging interaction between students and professors, both in and out of the classroom.

“The design of the new building will make our research activities more visible to the casual student, and will likely draw more students to join labs,” Holmes wrote. “Not so many years ago, the Exley Lobby was a featureless corridor; the addition of Pi Cafe, along with many tables and places to sit, transformed this area. The design of the new building will create similar destinations for students to meet, study, and interact with faculty.”

The construction team looks forward to several milestones in the coming years. They hope to install the concrete slabs for the foundation by February 2024, construct the exterior shell by August 2024, complete the interior rough construction by September 2024, and finish the interior construction by October 2025. Testing, inspection, and commissioning should be done by February 2026, furniture should be moved in by July 2026, and the building is scheduled to open in Fall 2026.

Northrop discussed his excitement for the new building and its addition to the University community.

“The design of the building is more open, cohesive, and collaborative than Hall-Atwater,” Northrop wrote. “I envision it becoming a hub not just for science-focused students, but a space that all students, faculty, and staff will benefit from using. The building is designed to showcase the great research that’s being done here at Wesleyan (literally, there’s glass everywhere), which I believe will help attract more current and prospective students to the sciences.”

 

Gabrielle McIntosh can be reached at gmcintosh@wesleyan.edu.