Hamilton College broke ground on June 7 for a $56 million renovation and expansion of its Science Building. The three-year capital project is the most expensive in the College's 190-year history.
When both phases of the project are completed in the summer of 2005, Hamilton will have nearly doubled, from 106,000 to 192,000 gross square feet, the amount of space dedicated to science instruction.
"This building will help ensure Hamilton's leadership position in undergraduate science education," said college President Eugene M. Tobin. "Already," Tobin said, "more than a quarter of all Hamilton students major in the sciences, which is about twice the national average."
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The newly renovated and expanded Science Building will house departments and programs in archaeology, biochemistry/molecular biology, biology, chemistry, environmental studies, geoarchaeology, geology, neuroscience, physics and psychology. It will be fully available when students in the Class of 2007 - those who enroll in the fall of 2003 - begin their junior years.
"Members of the Class of 2007 will be able to use the resources of this new facility just as they declare their concentrations at the end of the sophomore year and begin their independent studies and Senior Projects," said Douglas A. Weldon, Stone Professor of Psychology, and science curriculum and facilities coordinator. "These students, and those that follow them, will have access to some of the most sophisticated equipment and one of the most state-of-the-art science facilities of any undergraduate college in the country."
Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering P.C. is the architect for the project. The Albany-based firm was chosen because of its extensive experience in designing science facilities, especially those that emphasize undergraduate research. The new building will increase the number of classrooms, seminar rooms, computer classrooms, student study spaces and, most importantly, research laboratories for students and faculty. Highlights of the facility will include wireless computer communication throughout the building, a microscope classroom with digital projection for geology instruction, a multimedia auditorium and a greenhouse.
The building is also being designed to encourage and highlight interdisciplinary work, especially in the areas of neuroscience, biochemistry and environmental studies.
The Changing Face of Science Education
Weldon said formal planning for construction began in 1996 when the college became concerned that Hamilton's science facilities were beginning to constrain faculty members' teaching styles, which are increasingly collaborative, hands-on and research-based.
Additionally, as part of its new curriculum, the faculty began moving toward a curricular program that provides every Hamilton student with the opportunity for an investigative experience in science. In other words, all students will learn science by doing science.
"Science is, by its very nature, hands-on and collaborative," Weldon said. "We believe that by teaching science in this way, we prepare not only first-rate scientists, but citizens who are creative, organized and articulate - able to understand how science impacts everyday life in our increasingly technological world."
The first phase of the project features a new 92,000 gross-square-foot addition to be constructed perpendicular to the existing Dana Wing, which first opened in 1965. Site preparation for the addition will take place this summer, with steel and foundation work beginning in August. The new wing is expected to be ready for occupancy prior to the start of classes in the fall of 2004. The departments of chemistry, biology and physics will occupy the new wing when it is completed.
Phase two includes demolishing and then rebuilding the Dana Wing, at the same time that the original building is renovated and an atrium is added to its façade. This phase is expected to take one year and be completed when classes begin in the fall of 2005. Demolition of the Dana Wing is more cost effective than renovation because the existing structure would have required extensive reinforcement and retrofitting to make it suitable for today's science needs.
An Environmentally Friendly Design
The atrium, to be added to the front of the existing Science Building, will feature several new and emerging technologies to reduce energy costs. The front of the atrium, for example, will consist of two glass walls that create a double façade. Air will be passed between the panes to help heat the building in the winter and insulate it from the heat of the sun in the summer.
The second energy-saving feature creates geothermal loops, a relatively new, yet rapidly developing technology that uses the fairly constant temperature of the ground - about 50 degrees Fahrenheit in Central New York - to assist in heating and cooling the atrium. This closed-loop, heat transfer system includes piping that is inserted deep into the ground adjacent to the structure, and a heat pump located in the building. As fluid circulates through the pipe in the ground, heat is transferred either into the loop or out of the loop depending on whether the atrium is being heated or cooled. This technique assists in heating the atrium in the winter and cooling it in the summer by using the ground temperature to either partially raise or lower the temperature of the loop.
A third technique, called displacement ventilation, will allow the three-story, open-air atrium to be maintained at different temperatures. In the summer, for example, the ground-level temperature, where people will be located, will be kept cooler than the open area at the top of the atrium.
Throughout the building, separate air handling systems will be used for offices versus laboratories where the air needs to be refreshed much more often for safety reasons. Occupancy sensors will also be placed throughout the building to save even more energy by controlling air handling and lighting.
A number of new safety features, especially in sections of the building where chemicals are used and stored, are being incorporated into the structure.
The current Science Building was built in 1925, expanded 40 years later, and has been frequently renovated in recent years. Saunders Hall, which houses the Department of Chemistry, dates to the 19th century, and although it has been continually renewed, its last major renovation took place more than two decades ago. Plans call for its renovation after the chemistry department moves into the new building.
Hamilton alumni who have had notable scientific careers include behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner, 2000 Nobel Prize winner Paul Greengard and current president of the American Heart Association David Faxon.
