U. of Scranton Is Set to Begin Building $70-Million Science Center

A new science building at the U. of Scranton (at right) will connect to an existing building (at rear) that will be renovated. (U. of Scranton image)

The University of Scranton plans to begin construction this summer on a 150,000-square-foot science building designed by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture and Engineering. The building, which is expected to achieve a LEED silver rating, will be connected to an existing 50,000-square-foot structure that will be renovated as part of the $70-million project.

The completed science center will house 22 classrooms and seminar rooms, 34 labs, and 80 faculty offices for the departments of biology, chemistry, computing sciences, mathematics, and physics and electrical engineering. Also included in the project are an atrium, a rooftop greenhouse, a vivarium for research animals, and meeting spaces—among them a faculty meeting room modeled after a tea room at the University of Oxford.

University officials say the project was designed to incorporate the lessons of Project Kaleidoscope, the effort by the National Science Foundation and the W.M. Keck Foundation to pinpoint what works best in science and mathematics education. The new building is expected to open in 2011.