University of Wisconsin Chemistry building

Narratives

Architect Narrative

The renovated and new buildings house undergraduate and graduate organic and inorganic synthetic, analytical, basic research, and physical chemistry labs. A state-of-the-art research tower addition, completed first, provided new graduate research labs and support space, an instrument center, and imaging facilities. A separate renovation
portion provided a computer center and 120-seat seminar hall.

The new labs were a top priority, since the existing labs (now renovated) were unsafe and outdated. The new labs benefit from an improved ventilation system, in which each student gets their own chemical fumehood, which ensures that their air is well-ventilated and safe to breathe. These new, state-of-the-art labs, which are on par
with corporate labs, help prepare students for future jobs in similar environments. These labs allow them to enter the job world competent and confident in a modern lab environment.

Student desks are located in separate offices adjacent to each active laboratory in both the new tower and the renovation. The student office provides excellent visibility of the wet lab, while at the same time
providing an extra margin of safety for students by removing the individual student desks from the active laboratory. The students appreciate having computers and
shared peripherals right in their office, and they appreciate a quiet place to read, write, and talk about science. Although separate, the offices provide good visibility into the laboratory and glass walls
allow visual/auditory connectivity between researchers both from office to lab, but also between labs.

Everyone says they love the bright, cheery environment afforded by the large windows in the labs, the borrowed light in the offices, and the floor-to-ceiling glass in the corridors, copy rooms, and conference rooms.

The windows provide visual relief for stressed researchers spending long hours in their labs. Views to the surrounding city and lake are beautiful and make the tower a pleasant place to work and study. The separate offices also allow for researchers to safely relax over coffee — which in-lab offices don’t allow — yet remain close to their work.

Even before the building opened, it had already fulfilled one of its goals: to recruit and retain outstanding faculty. Retaining and recruiting top faculty benefits not only the Department but the University as a whole, and even the community. The research tower plays a critical role in helping the Department and the University recruit and retain first-class faculty and graduate students. Competition for the very best students and faculty is fierce; the new building gives them an advantage.

The new layout, which provides a new clarity and ease of wayfinding, is conducive to tours with parents, potential students, and faculty candidates.

The administrative office suite on the ground floor integrates the previously scattered units of academic administration, business services, admissions and records, duplicating, and mailroom. The new facility substantially enhances communication, coordination, and efficiency.

A new lecture hall now provides badly-needed space for graduate student seminars or PhD defenses - space which was badly needed.

The laboratories were designed for current and future flexibility in a variety of ways.

The tight site presented construction and design challenges,and all renovation occurred while the building was occupied.

Educator Narrative

The building addition / renovation project created a
substantial impact on the entire spectrum of activities within our Department. The new facility enhances teaching, learning, and outreach in a myriad of ways. The success of the project derives from thoughtful design, in which new construction has been thoroughly integrated with
extensive renovation. The design concepts for each element of the facility work extremely well, and the aesthetic qualities of the facility appeal to both the occupants and the entire community. We are proud of our building
because it is both functional and beautiful.
A study room, computer laboratory, and computer classroom form a contiguous suite of educational resources. Undergraduate students are now able to acquire data in the instructional laboratory, analyze the data in
the computer laboratory, and discuss their findings, as a team, in the study room. The office for teaching assistants affords the opportunity for informal, small-group interactions between TAs and students. The Learning Center, which provides academic assistance to minority and
“at-risk” undergraduate students, has been integrated into the Department’s facilities (having been previously located off-site). The renovated library provides substantially expanded access to electronic information resources. By bringing all of these instructional and support
programs together on floors B, 1, 2 of the facility, we are able to offer our undergraduates an integrated instructional program.
The Department’s mission in graduate education is founded on the cornerstone of original scholarly research. The key component of our research lab design involves the lab module / student office combination. This new lab/office design enhances research by providing our students with safe, convenient, uplifting work areas that truly meet their needs.
The 120-seat seminar hall filled an important void in the Department’s infrastructure. This versatile facility finds nearly continuous use from 8 am - 9 pm + weekends for course instruction, research seminars, graduate student presentations, group meetings, conferences, and outreach activities.
The additional seminar hall helps serve the 4,000 students who daily use the classrooms each fall. The newly renovated laboratory space in the two attached existing buildings enhances graduate research and better serves the 427 faculty, staff, and post-docs who occupy the facility.
Reconfiguring the public corridors on the first floor of the building served to integrate the two existing buildings, seminar hall, and research tower into a unified whole. Many faculty were skeptical of the need to expend precious resources for what was initially perceived as a
“cosmetic” renovation. We learned, however, that our architects were absolutely correct in pushing this element of the project. Our new primary thoroughfare, which we have affectionately dubbed the “Main Street Corridor”, unifies our Department, projects a welcoming environment to
students and visitors, and provides a wonderful vehicle for public outreach.
Our Department maintains distinguished programs of excellence in research, education, and teaching, and has done so consistently over a period of many decades. Our new and refurbished facilities dramatically improved the safety of our laboratories, and helped us recruit and retain first-class faculty and students. These facilities will play a pivotal role in enhancing our program of scholarly activities in the years to come.