Science Complex

A campus connector to accelerate science learning

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This new science facility was designed with the university’s initiatives to promote inclusion and equity.

Client
Towson University
Location
Towson, Maryland, United States
Size
320,000 square feet
Status
Completed 2021

As a research-focused university, Towson provides students with extraordinary opportunities to work alongside faculty in addressing significant scientific questions, while also generating new knowledge to solve real-world societal challenges. With enrollment in science majors far surpassing projections, we teamed up with Towson to create a new stand-out science complex to support its student population growth and create a collaborative and sustainable space where science can thrive for generations to come.

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The façade, designed with Arup, helps to control internal temperature through optimized fenestration, while atrium skylights reduce solar gain while allowing daylight to reach deep into the atrium.
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We designed the building to be as open and transparent as possible, so that curious undergraduates can observe the goings-on across classrooms and laboratories.

Connections to the campus

Recognizing that this new building would be the largest building on campus, the design team took great care to scale the science complex appropriately to its surroundings. A contemporary yet respectful interpretation of the existing campus vernacular, the complex sits comfortably between historic buildings. Its indoor and outdoor spaces connect directly to the cherished Glen Arboretum, which is planned to be a living extension of the environmental program.

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Sitting at the front door of campus, the building’s presence makes a big statement about the level of excitement and enthusiasm for math and science across the university.
Towson Science Complex
The new site sits at the center of campus, acting as the university's new main entrance.
Towson Science Complex
The new site sits at the center of campus, acting as the university's new main entrance.

Connections in the building

The new, multistory atrium is intended to foster spontaneous encounters between faculty and students—both science and non-science-focused—to create new synergies among previously distinct areas of study. The atrium gracefully descends two floors from the north to the south, featuring theater-style seating for presentations or events and access to a Student Success Center. The atrium also connects the building to the main campus through a series of interior and exterior spaces. These include various open and intimate areas filled with natural daylight from skylights, creating a vibrant heart within the building where students and faculty can meet.

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The central atrium is a gathering place for students from across campus and accommodates presentations, events or individual study.
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Multi-story, publicly accessible spaces are strategically located to allow the faculty and students to study, socialize and practice interdisciplinary sciences directly adjacent to the labs.

Connections to the sciences

The program sought to maximize the connection between teaching and research, and to foster collaboration among multidisciplinary programs. Departments in the complex include biology, physics, astronomy, geosciences, chemistry, science education and environmental sciences, in addition to multiple specialized environments, such as a greenhouse, planetarium, urban environmental biogeochemistry lab, and a small animal and aquatics vivarium suite.

Working with university leadership, our laboratory design experts developed an integrated zoning concept to indicate the main departmental identity (Biology, PAGs and Chemistry), while also illustrating the shared non-departmental laboratory environments, also noted as the “collaborative neighborhoods.” Each flexible neighborhood consists of office administration, teaching labs and research labs, sized respectively to their program needs and anticipated growth. This neighborhood grouping strategy is a clear break from traditional science building layouts and furthers Towson’s goal to connect disciplines, teaching and research in new and exciting ways.

Overall, the new building is allowing Towson University to teach the core sciences to all students and promote research and collaboration between all departments. It is reinforcing the existing pedestrian movements across campus and to the Glen and acting as a good neighbor to Towson’s first building, Stephens Hall. 

Towson University Science Complex