CSArch joined the Utica College Board of Trustees, Cabinet members, faculty, staff, and students in a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, October 21 to celebrate and unveil the campus’s newest academic building, a 23,300 square foot science center that houses state-of-the-art teaching, research, and laboratory spaces to better support the needs of the College’s growing science programs.
“We finally have a modern facility that is on par with our dedicated faculty and that can serve our deserving students,” said Dr. Sharon Wise, Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Biology at Utica College. “Just you wait and see what this talented science faculty and student body can do with these new facilities. Teaching and research will never be the same at this institution – it will be so much more.”
Built in 1963 and essentially unchanged from that era, the existing Gordon Science Center had exceeded the limits of its ability to support the enormous growth in the College’s science programs and the rapid advances in research and technology that impact science instruction. With Page as a partner, the project began in 2019 with an extensive programming and planning process involving administration, faculty, and students to imagine the design for a new science building annex that would better support science research and instruction in the 21st century.
Constructed over the past year, the new science center boasts state-of-the-art laboratory and teaching space for genetics and molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry, animal physiology and animal behavior, and human anatomy and physiology. The building also includes dedicated laboratory prep spaces, faculty offices, breakout rooms, an open and inviting lobby, center courtyard, and a Geographic Information System computing laboratory to support active learning and research.
“This ribbon cutting is the celebration of the College’s long-awaited goal for a new science center finally coming to fruition,” said William Pennock, Principal at CSArch. “We are honored to be a part of this important project that will impact science instruction, research, and student and faculty engagement for years to come.”
CSArch also provided MEP Engineering design, which included laboratory makeup air and laboratory high plume dilution fans, implemented with an energy recovery system to reduce the energy impact of the building. To protect the health and safety of building occupants, each lab space integrates variable volume fume hoods, which were inadequate and inefficient in the previous building. Dissection tables in the Human Anatomy and Physiology labs each have dedicated exhaust systems to prevent the release of toxic particles during dissections. The plumbing design for the building includes a deionized water system that provides Type II pure water, which is filtered to remove nearly all impurities.
