The Interdisciplinary Science Center (ISC) at Eastern Washington University, located in Cheney, Washington, has completed and opened to students and staff.
The LMN Architects-designed, 102,000-sf project is located at the center of the academic complex and the campus. It is characterized by porous, transparent, and vibrant social spaces that support a variety of teaching laboratories and put science on display. The building completes the western edge of Arevalo Student Mall and amplifies a primary pedestrian corridor to the south. The facility connects to the existing Science Building Center by two enclosed pedestrian bridges, forming a single integrated facility between the two structures.
The four-level, brick-clad building takes a rectangular form with prominent voids at either end. Within each void, a crystalline glass wall marks major entries and social spaces. The rectilinear form of the building is clad with a panelized red brick façade system, alternately staggered in elevation to reveal a consistent rhythm of windows into the laboratory spaces within. The planar brick panels are accentuated with a subtle mix of cascading glazed surfaces, animating the façade in a continual play of subtle reflection throughout the day. The landscape design features significant geological specimens along site walls and native plant species arrayed among the building’s various micro-climates.
SEE ALSO: University of Washington’s new mass timber building tops out
Inside the ISC, laboratory instrument exhibits and educational displays are integrated throughout its central corridor walls, creating an interactive educational environment and connecting the laboratory and corridor in a dynamic exchange of filtered views. The internal organization of the building follows the linear movement through the site, with laboratories flanking either side of a large central corridor on all floors. The building responds to the site topography through its internal circulation and features a prominent stair at the eastern entry that leads to the second level corridor and western entry beyond. A lecture hall on Level 1 is carved into the sloping site forming the terminus of that level in the hillside.
The three levels above feature a linear arrangement of laboratories, each with a corner display window that visually connects the teaching spaces to the social life of the building. Laboratories are tailored to the unique needs of each department (physics, chemistry, biology, and geology) and are interconnected along the exterior edge of the building via a “ghost” corridor to adjacent prep rooms. A multipurpose gathering space on the fourth floor is accentuated with faceted glass walls facing south and east and features an adjacent terrace with views over the campus to the landscape and mountains beyond.
The project has received LEED Gold certification. In addition to LMN Architects, the Build Team featured:
Civil Engineer:
Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Inc.
Contractor & Construction Manager:
Lydig Construction.
Landscape Architect:
Berger Partnership.
Lighting Design:
MW Consulting Engineers.
MEP Engineer:
MW Consulting Engineers.
Laboratory Planning Consultant:
Research Facilities Design (RFD).
Structural Engineer:
Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Inc.
Related Stories
| Dec 29, 2014
Spherical reflectors help spread daylight throughout a college library in Portland, Ore. [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
The 40,000-sf library is equipped with four “cones of light,” spherical reflectors made from extruded aluminum that distribute daylight from the library’s third floor to illuminate the second. The innovation was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
BIM and Information Technology | Dec 28, 2014
The Big Data revolution: How data-driven design is transforming project planning
There are literally hundreds of applications for deep analytics in planning and design projects, not to mention the many benefits for construction teams, building owners, and facility managers. We profile some early successful applications.
| Dec 28, 2014
AIA course: Enhancing interior comfort while improving overall building efficacy
Providing more comfortable conditions to building occupants has become a top priority in today’s interior designs. This course is worth 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
| Dec 28, 2014
6 trends steering today's college residence halls
University students want more in a residence hall than just a place to sleep. They want a space that reflects their style of living and learning.
| Dec 10, 2014
New study says prefab elements saved Colorado hospital $4.3 million in construction
A study by engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder found that prefab approaches on the new Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver cut 72 workdays off the schedule and resulted in millions in savings.
| Dec 9, 2014
UC Merced campus earns fourth LEED Platinum certification
The award brings the campus total for LEED certifications through the U.S. Green Building Council to 13, with its newest building under construction, the second Classroom and Office Building, expected to also achieve platinum status.
| Dec 2, 2014
Nonresidential construction spending rebounds in October
This month's increase in nonresidential construction spending is far more consistent with the anecdotal information floating around the industry, says ABC's Chief Economist Anirban Basu.
| Dec 1, 2014
How public-private partnerships can help with public building projects
Minimizing lifecycle costs and transferring risk to the private sector are among the benefits to applying the P3 project delivery model on public building projects, according to experts from Skanska USA.
| Nov 20, 2014
Frank Gehry creates fanciful brick façade for Australian business school
The fluid brickwork of the new Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building at the University of Technology, Sydney, is comprised of 320,000 pieces made by hand.
| Nov 18, 2014
5 big trends changing the world of academic medicine
Things are changing in healthcare. Within academic medicine alone, there is a global shortage of healthcare professionals, a changing policy landscape within the U..S., and new view and techniques in both pedagogy and practice, writes Perkins+Will’s Pat Bosch.
