Architect Kevin Sullivan's vision for the new science center at Brandeis University called for moving away from austere, Cold War monoliths to vibrant, eco-friendly buildings that will attract top scientists and scholars.
Close to 150 researchers and faculty members, mostly from the university's chemistry and biology departments, alongside staff from the National Center for Behavioral Genomics, will soon occupy the new 85,000-square-foot Carl J. Shapiro Science Center in the center of the campus.
"There is a culture of science we refer to as the 'Sputnik Era,"' he said. "During the Cold War, science was really closed in. It was studied in very stern, opaque buildings that don't allow for much interaction. What we are trying to do is open up the sciences and make them much more collaborative."
Sullivan, who lives in Waltham, designs hospitals and other buildings around the world for Payette Associates of Boston whose clients include Mass. General Hospital, Wellesley College and MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham.
Science centers like the one at Brandeis University are part of a growing trend transforming shut-in laboratories to transparent and social complexes for learning, he said.
The five-story science center is part of an estimated $85 million project.
The new center has teaching labs on the first two levels and three levels of research space above. The building also includes a two-level electronic library, an atrium, a cafe opening in the fall 2009, conference rooms and space where people can get together.
A master plan for the project also calls for the eventual addition of another building, which is expected to include teaching labs, a large lecture hall, and three levels of additional chemistry research laboratories.
Sullivan said he is happy to be working on a project close to his home and family because he often has to travel to oversee projects. Sullivan and his wife, Kristina Lucas, moved to Waltham in 1987 and have two children, daughter Lina, 12 and son, Andrew, 9. His clients range from Pennsylvania State University to the International Vaccine Institute In Seoul, South Korea.
In offering such state-of-the-art facilities, Brandeis can more easily recruit and retain top-notch science staff, he said.
"I think for a lot of universities it has become very competitive when it comes to the sciences," Sullivan said. "I think the new labs built present the university in a different way to a lot of competitors. Science recruitment is very cutthroat."
The center also uses the latest in sustainable technology to harness nature's energy, Sullivan said. Lights are motion-activated and shut off when no one is in the building. External metallic sunshades placed on the outside of the building trap an optimum amount of heat and light inside the center.
"We also used recyclable materials whenever possible," Sullivan said. " The university was very proactively involved to make sure the building was sustainable."
The project calls for demolishing the Kalman, Friedland and Edison Lecks buildings.
A suspended walkway system and a "Petri Dish Garden" will be among the project's final additions. Sullivan described the garden as a courtyard area containing circular planters, where teachers and students can mingle.
Some researchers have already moved their offices and laboratory equipment into the new center and the building is expected to be fully occupied by the fall semester.
Jason Pontrello, a chemistry lecturer, said the biggest limitation his department faced in their old science building was a lack of space. Pontrello said the new, roomier laboratories and additional space for chemical fume-hoods (enclosed areas that help ventilate chemicals), allow chemistry students and staff to handle more complex experiments.
"What it does is it expands the types of (chemical) reactions students can do in their courses," he said. "It introduces them to more reactions used in science labs and pharmaceutical labs and it gives them a better place to do more work that's done in current scientific research."
Biology professor Leslie Griffith, who works at the National Center for Behavioral Genomics, said the new facility is long overdue.
"The university sorely needed to have new teaching labs to bring our students the best possible experience in learning about science," she said in an e-mail. "The research labs allow investigators that have overlapping interests to share space."
Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or at jgilbrid@cnc.com
