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ARCHITECT PAYETTE MEP/FP ENGINEER VAN ZELM ENGINEERS STRUCTURAL ENGINEER LeMESSURIER LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT MICHAEL VAN VALKENBURGH ASSOCIATES CIVIL ENGINEER NITSCH ENGINEERING FACADE CONSULTANT SIMPSON GUMPERTZ & HEGER, STUDIO NYL SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT INTEGRAL GROUP LIGHTING DESIGN AVAILABLE LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY © CHUCK CHOI PHOTOGRAPHY DESIGN © 2019 PAYETTE
Amherst College New Science Center
Meticulous craft, layered transparency and academic connectivity are the driving forces behind the New Science Center. Anchoring the eastern edge of the campus, the New Science Center is a collection of five distinct building components organized around a central daylit Commons, unified by a dramatic roof canopy.
“This is the biggest transformation of the campus since its founding. It says that we care deeply about science, and it says the same thing about community, about our commitment to sustainability, about our commitment to beauty.� BIDDY MARTIN, AMHERST COLLEGE PRESIDENT
Open and Integrated Faced with an aging science center unable to accommodate today’s technologies, equipment and pedagogies, Amherst College sought a new, forwardlooking building that would create an open learning environment for the entire campus community for the next 100 years. Set against a backdrop of the Pelham Hills beyond, a collection of five distinct building components is nestled into the new Campus Greenway. Two high energy laboratory wings ground toward the east, and three pavilions of low intensity uses extend uphill to the academic core. A central daylight-filled Commons serves as the building’s social heart, openly welcoming the entire academic community through a campus scaled gesture — an ultra-transparent window into science.
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Canopy unifies the Science Commons
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Sciences open to the commons
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Commons open to the campus
The Commons’ glass wall showcases a vibrant interdisciplinary community, directly connecting the sciences to the campus core.
Performance-driven Design Integrated, performance-based thinking guided major architectural decisions including the customized skylights running the length of the building. The sinuous roof monitors not only animate the roofline and improve daylight quality, but also serve multiple functional roles. These roles include cantilevered structural support to the suspended glass wall, natural and artificial lighting, photovoltaic energy production, acoustic control as well as customized radiant heating and cooling of the Commons.
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Radiant convective cooling
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Acoustic sound absorption
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Photovoltaic panels
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North-facing daylight
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LED lighting
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Concealed structure
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Concealed fire protection
Science on Display Providing a new, integrated home for seven science departments / programs, the New Science Center challenges the historical typology of insular academic science buildings. Creating an interior environment focused on architectural and cultural transparency, the building actively celebrates the teaching and research within. Most of the activity in the New Science Center is visible to the College through the glass walls of the commons. The spaces within enjoy powerful views back to the campus and intimate visual connections to one another. Research and teaching laboratories are structured to support both subject-based foundational instruction and interdisciplinary exploration, while classrooms are adapted to new pedagogies and active learning.
Sustainable Design
91 kbtu /sf 76% 72%
ENERGY REDUCTION
compared to the 2030 baseline
FLOOR AREA WITH direct views to the outdoors
58%
SITE AREA supports vegetation
58%
RAINWATER MANAGED from a two-year, 24-hour storm event
41%
REDUCTION IN INDOOR WATER USE compared to LEEDV4 baseline
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Energy Conservation Strategies 1
Solar PV array integrated into roof monitors
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Roof overhang and canopy provides shading
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Automated shades capture heat glazing
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Natural ventilation
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Radiant heating and cooling
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Smoke exhaust
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Fan coil and displacement diffusers
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Chilled beams
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High performance low-flow fume hoods
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High-efficiency lab equipment
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Heat recovery
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Demand control ventilation
The rainwater harvesting and reuse system saves
1,000,000
GALLONS of potable water per year
Over 25% of all campus classes now occur in the New Science Center, increasing exposure of the sciences and research conducted within to the full student body. Student and interdisciplinary faculty research work is now on prominent display.
Designed for Collaboration Student research is the focus of innovative laboratory configurations. For all disciplines, open write-up spaces adjacent to the laboratories and faculty offices promote peer-to-peer learning, safety and faculty accessibility.
Transparency across the lab
Transparency through the lab
“The real purpose is to ensure we’re doing the kind of science that prepares young people, not just to be future scientists, but to become leaders who are scientifically informed.” BIDDY MARTIN, COLLEGE PRESIDENT
STEM as Signature The project embodies the College’s mission to ensure that science education and research are at the core of a balanced liberal arts education. The building location, its transformative landscape and the strategic inclusion of classrooms and social amenity spaces ensure broad exposure of faculty and students to scientific methods and open dialogue.
Design Heritage Clearly articulated and minimally expressed natural materials permeate the project, quietly nesting a contemporary building into the more traditional legacy of this rural campus. From the handmade grey bricks recalling local stone walls, to the custom weathering steel screens complementing the tones of nearby red brick structures, the project embraces craft and detailing as the natural tie to its context.
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LEVEL TWO PLAN 1 Lower Commons
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2 Upper Commons
7 Classroom
3 Research Lab
8 Lab Support
4 Write-up Space
9 Conference Room
5 Teaching Lab
10 Teaching Lab
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“It truly is where the students are all the time. I think it’s really changed the culture of the place beyond what my own expectations are.” CATHERINE SANDERSON, PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR
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