Liberal Arts Colleges Science and Discovery
Grinnell College Humanities and Social Studies Center / Grinnell, Iowa
The College of Wooster Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Science / Wooster, Ohio
Performance by Design
Page is a full-service architecture, engineering, and design firm committed to advancing the world through performance-based design. With 1,500+ employees and offices in 20 cities, we deliver tailored solutions and research-backed insights that create lasting impact for clients and communities.
We leverage curiosity and capability to tackle technically groundbreaking, visually compelling, mission-driven projects that elevate the human experience. Architecture, Engineering, Innovation, Experience — this is Performance by Design.
Liberal Arts Education Expertise
1K
Liberal Arts College Clients
Projects at over 400 Colleges and Universities Nationwide
126
Over 1,500 Staff Nationwide 20 #3
Top 180 University Building Architecture Firms in 2024, BD+C
1.5K
Offices Nationwide
Years of Education Experience
We have been fortunate to work extensively with top-tier liberal arts colleges across the United States, each with its own unique setting, culture, goals, and story to be shaped. The most successful colleges and universities we know with new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) buildings have not merely built new buildings, they have rethought them from the ground up. These institutions have radically redesigned them either building entirely new structures or dramatically renovating existing ones in ways that have improved professors’ teaching and students’ learning processes.
Interdisciplinary Focus: encourage students to make connections between the sciences as well as other areas, like the arts, social sciences, or humanities.
Focus on Teaching: Faculty are deeply invested in undergraduate education and foster a mentored, interactive learning environment.
Student Engagement: Students benefit from close interaction with professors in small classes, which fosters a more personalized and engaging learning environment.
Research Opportunities: Faculty research is focused on student involvement and exposure, often starting early in a student’s academic career providing students with valuable experience.
Page has provided services to many liberal arts colleges, including:
Amherst College
Barnard College
Baypath College
Berea College
Bridgewater College
Bucknell University
Carleton College
Colby College
Colgate University
College of Saint Rose
College of the Holy Cross
College of Wooster
Concordia College
Connecticut College
Emory and Henry College
Franklin and Marshall College
Gallaudet University
Goucher College
Grinnell College
Hamilton College
Hampden-Sydney College
Hartwick College
Haverford College
Hollins University
Lafayette College
Middlebury College
Monmouth University
Moravian College
Mount Holyoke College
Rollins College
Saint Mary’s College of Maryland
Seattle University
Siena College
Skidmore College
St. Lawrence University
St. Olaf College
Swarthmore College
Transylvania University
Trinity College
Trinity University
Union College
University of Richmond
U.S. Military Academy at West Point
Virginia Wesleyan University
Washington and Jefferson College
Washington College
Wellesley College
Wheaton College
William Peace University
Williams College
Wittenburg University
Science and Discovery
Analytic rigor meets limitless curiosity
What can design do to foster student success? Optimize your resources? Create forward-thinking learning environments? Bold ideas emerge from curiosity, collaboration, and interdisciplinary thinking.
Embracing a spirit of discovery, Page designs environments where teaching and research intersect. Our facilities balance dynamic engagement zones and highly technical lab space. Transparent laboratories put science on display – promoting student engagement, creating inviting environments, and giving students a direct view to experiments in action—while distinct building zones and reconfigurable layouts maximize teaching, research, and support space.
Together, let’s create spaces that empower students to succeed and spark the discoveries of tomorrow.
Carleton College Evelyn M. Anderson Hall
Project Size
236,000 Square Feet
Services Provided Architecture / Energy Analysis / Interior Design / Lab Planning / MEP Engineering / Fire Protection Engineering / Planning / Programming / Project Management
Types of Science
Biochemistry / Biology / Chemistry / Computer Science / Geology / Physics / Psychology
Bridging tradition and innovation in science
Carleton College’s science complex demonstrates the power of modernization and unites programs once spread across five buildings, fostering an immersive, interdisciplinary research culture.
The project modernized two existing facilities and demolished an infrastructurechallenged third to create adjacent space for the high-performance addition of Evelyn M Anderson Hall. Page’s Building Sciences team integrated energy modeling from the start, ensuring the project met Carleton’s commitment to zero net energy growth, earning LEED Platinum certification.
At the center of the complex lies a sun-splashed atrium that unites the three structures. The atrium is activated by a series of bridges and cascading stairs that connect multiple level changes. Transparent labs and classrooms put science on display, engaging students in meaningful research and encouraging serendipitous conversations that lead to collaboration and discovery.
Evelyn M. Anderson Hall offers the best in interdisciplinary learning, aligning with Carleton’s mission of “Unmatched teaching in a close-knit community where intellectual curiosity leads to a lifetime of exploration.”
The College of Wooster Ruth W. Williams Hall of
Life Science
Project Size
71,000 Square (Feet Addition)
4,288 Square (Feet Renovation)
Services Provided Planning / Lab Planning / Architecture / Interior Design / MEP Engineering / Energy Analysis
Types of Science
Biochemistry / Biology / Chemistry / Environmental Studies / Neuroscience
Connecting science, collaboration, and liberal arts
The Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Science supports the College of Wooster’s approach to teaching and research as a pedagogy, its liberal arts mission, and long-term flexibility with reconfigurable laboratory and classroom spaces.
The project replaced Mateer Hall with a state of the art facility, modernized portions of Severance Hall, and linked the structures to form a unified life science hub. It aggressively reduced energy consumption and promotes crossdisciplinary collaboration.
The facility fosters an integrative program for students that transcends disciplines and creates innovative learning spaces that support students’ science mastery and proficiency, foster collaborations at multiple levels, and connects science programs to other disciplines on campus and the community.
Worcester, Massachusetts
College of the Holy Cross Integrated Science Complex
Project Size
89,200 Square Feet (Renovation)
46,846 Square Feet (Addition)
Services Provided
Programming / Planning / Lab Planning / Architecture / MEP Engineering / Fire Protection Engineering
Types of Science
Biology / Chemistry / Computer Science / Mathematics / Physics
Uniting science, innovation, and interdisciplinary learning
The Integrated Science Complex is a multidisciplinary powerhouse, bringing cutting-edge science education to life. By modernizing Haberlin, Beaven, O’Neil, and Swords Halls and linking them with the new Park B. and Linda Smith Laboratories building, the College created a seamless, high-performance science community.
A network of new and renovated atria forms a connective spine, improving circulation and visually linking the complex’s three levels. Glass-walled teaching and research spaces, designed for collaborative, hands-on discovery, bring science out from behind closed doors to those studying or meeting in the variously scaled informal spaces that dot the building.
The goal was an open and contemporary design whose materials and massing responded to the surrounding buildings. The design solution combines two familiar materials from the architectural lexicon of the College - limestone and copper - with glass to create a language that draws from the historical palette. Copper panels, with strategically placed louvers, wrap the sophisticated ventilation and heat recovery systems that serve the LEED Gold complex.
Project Size
77,000 Square Feet (Addition)
22,000 Square Feet (Renovation)
Services Provided
Architecture / Engineering / Programming / Planning / Lab Planning
Types of Science
Astronomy / Biology / Chemistry / Computer Science / Mathematics / Physics / Psychology
Bridging science, nature, and innovation
The LEED Gold-certified Mars Center seamlessly integrates with its surroundings, appearing to rise from the landscape with an extensive green roof. Positioned at the campus edge, it connects the core of Wheaton College with once-overlooked wetlands – now a natural lab for biology studies. A spiral landscape stair transforms the facility into a new campus crossroads, while labs, a vivarium, and a café are tucked beneath the green roof, minimizing the building’s scale.
The three-story building design incorporates open space and extensive glass to reveal the activity and share the excitement of science with the campus, sparking interest in interdisciplinary collaborations, a focus on Wheaton’s “Connections” curriculum, and a commitment to sustainability. The building is organized along a main street entirely of glass – one side completely open to every teaching laboratory, the other completely open to the previously neglected wetlands and woodlands to the southeast.
In addition to conserving resources and utility costs, the building’s energy-efficient systems and sustainable features make the facility a teaching tool for sustainability.
Winter Park, Florida
Rollins College Archibald Granville Bush Science Center
Advancing science at the heart of liberal arts
The Bush Center is a modern hub for interdisciplinary science learning and research. This LEED Gold-certified facility unites Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Psychology, breaking down barriers between once-isolated disciplines.
Through selective demolition, an 18,000-square-food addition in the campus’s SpanishMediterranean style created much-needed program space. The remaining 80,000 square feet was modernized, with a reimagined layout designed to spark intellectual connections and reinforce science’s role in a liberal arts education.
A three-story atrium serves as a campus destination where students, faculty, and visitors collaborate, debate, and innovate. Beyond the building, the project transformed the campus core by removing roads and replacing them with functional, pedestrianfocused gathering spaces.
Project Size
80,000 Square Feet (Renovation)
18,000 Square Feet (Addition)
Services Provided
Programming / Planning / Lab Planning / Architecture / MEP Engineering / Structural Engineering / Building Sciences
Types of Science
Biology / Chemistry / Computer Science / Mathematics / Physics / Psychology
Project Size
240,000 Square Feet
Services Provided
Programming / Master Planning / Lab
Planning / Architecture / Interior Design /
MEP Engineering / Fire Protection
Engineering / Energy Analysis
Types of Science
Biology / Chemistry / Computer Science / Engineering Science / Psychology
Spaces that inspire learning and making
Built in three phases, the new Center for the Sciences and Innovation (CSI) complex provides research and teaching labs with technology access for eight departments, creating collisions of ideas and encouraging teamwork.
Taking a mixing-bowl approach, strategic adjacencies connect neighborhoods of classrooms, laboratories, and offices. Biology and chemistry students spark interdisciplinary conversations as they settle into collaboration spaces. This popular new hub provides unique learning environments, including “the Cube,” a creative makerspace that supports Trinity’s interdisciplinary program in entrepreneurialism.
The design responds to the existing campus’ landscape and architecture, San Antonio’s heritage of Spanish missions, and the region’s natural resources. The local sedimentary rock and its role in retaining the life-sustaining Edwards aquifer are at the heart of the design. The entry courtyard leads to an interior three-story limestone wall, which is porous so you can glimpse teaching, research, science, and engineering.
Schenectady, New York
Union College Integrated Science and Engineering Complex
Innovating science, engineering, and liberal arts collaboration
Union College’s Integrated Science and Engineering Complex transforms teaching, learning, research, bridging engineering, science, and liberal arts like never before.
A four-story light well fills the space with natural light, welcoming students whether they’re diving into research, heading to class, or just relaxing between lectures. Expansive windows showcase cutting-edge labs and scientific instrumentation, a testament to Union’s legacy as the first liberal arts college to offer engineering in 1845.
Home to multiple programs, the complex is designed for collaboration and interdisciplinary discovery. Faculty offices are interwoven throughout, ensuring easy connections between students and professors.
Seamlessly curving between historic campus buildings, the structure links to adjacent facilities via indoor corridors, easing winter travel. Outside, green spaces and walking paths create a welcoming environment, inviting all students into the experience.
Project Size
142,000 Square Feet
Services Provided
Architecture / Programming / Planning / Lab Planning / Design Services / Interior Design / Engineering / Sustainability
Types of Science
Biology / Biomedical Engineering / Chemical Engineering / Chemistry / Computer Science / Electrical Engineering / Mechanical Engineering / Physics
Seattle, Washington
Seattle University Jim and Janet Sinegal Center for Science and Innovation
Science, engineering, and community united
Discovery through science with application through engineering are side-by-side in Seattle University’s new Center for Science and Innovation (CSI). Here, students think about possibilities, make connections, and act for the good of the community. Linked with the university’s Bannan Center for Science and Engineering, the CSI is the future of STEM for Seattle University.
At street level, makerspaces buzz with robotics and 3D printers. Engineering students swap ideas over lattes, while mentors from Amazon and Microsoft meet with teams in high-tech huddle rooms. Computer science students work startup-style, using flexible workstations and lockers for storage.
The upper floors house state-of-the-art biology and chemistry labs, where sliding glass doors blur the line between learning and research. A vibrant concourse offers cafés, a radio station, and shared spaces. By day, classrooms host lectures; by night, they transform into activity hubs. Home to the Center for Community Engagement, CSI extends its impact beyond campus, supporting local families.
Project Size
275,000 Square Feet
Services Provided Architecture / Planning / Lab Design
Types of Science Biology / Chemistry / Computer Science
Scranton, Pennsylvania
University of Scranton Loyola Science Center
Science, community, and Jesuit tradition united
The Loyola Science Center is a striking gateway, showcasing scientific discovery and Jesuit intellectual rigor. Positioned along the highway, it commands attention while integrating seamlessly with campus.
Stepped pavilions scale the facility to fit its surroundings, framing a new science green by the historic Catlin House. Locally sourced stone from the Scranton estate quarry unifies its architecture with the campus’s varied brick buildings. At its heart, a concourse and atrium connect the center to the Campus Commons and DeNaples Center. A mat slab foundation counters risks from abandoned coal mines and train vibrations.
The center clusters faculty-student research labs, advanced teaching spaces, and collaboration zones, encouraging constant interaction. Strategically placed gathering areas outside labs and offices extend learning beyond the classroom. The vibrant atrium attracts students and faculty from across campus, making the building a hub of activity day and night.
Project Size
166,500 Square Feet (Addition)
48,000 Square Feet (Renovation)
Services Provided
Programming / Planning / Architecture / Lab Planning / MEP Engineering / Structural Engineering / Energy Analysis
Types of Science
Biochemistry / Biology / Chemistry / Computer Science / Electrical Engineering / Mathematics / Physics
“The research and teaching laboratories and classrooms provide highly effective spaces, but what is breathtaking is the bright and open environment that makes the activity going on in the building highly visible.”
Stephen Anthony, Former Chair Trustee Committee on Buildings & Grounds Hamilton College
The breathtaking The spaces Anthony,
