Georgia Southern University, Biological Sciences Building

the story

The LEED Gold Certified Biological Sciences Building design enables the department of biology to consolidate research and instruction in a state-of-the-art dedicated facility, that promotes active student engagement in scientific exploration. The first major building in a new precinct of campus devoted to the sciences and research, it represents a prerequisite first step in the development of a new program in Coastal Plain Biology, and is a benefit to both the local region and the state of Georgia.

at-a-glance

TYPE:

New Building

SERVICES:

Architecture

Interior Design

Landscape Architecture

Programming & Planning

LOCATION:

Statesboro, GA

STATUS:

Completed 2013

SIZE:

158,000 SF

The University aspired to have an inter-disciplinary biosciences building that would reflect their commitment to sustainability and serve as a highly visible node along a major campus pedestrian way that was extended through the site.

The new facility is designed to be perceived as a building in the woods – seen through and among the trees of its pine forested site. It is an ensemble of articulated parts (two 3-story lab / classroom wings; a field house containing a vivarium, aquatics lab, and specimen collections; and a botanical greenhouse). The extension of the campus “pedestrium” through the site bisects the composition at a breezeway connecting the lab wings to the field house, highlighting the greenhouse and the interior working areas of the building to passersby on their way to and from the Student Recreation Center.

The building’s instructional labs are designed to be discipline-specific, but are generic enough to be easily adaptable to the requirements of a variety of disciplines as the curricula evolves. Likewise, the “transformer” labs accommodate students working in the less populated sub-disciplines and specialties within a physical configuration and arrangement that encourages and enables inter-disciplinary inquiry and collaboration.

Research labs are intermingled with instructional labs in the same building wing. They are generally placed along major circulation paths and are adjacent to, or opposite the entrances to instructional labs. The physical juxtaposition facilitates the sharing of support facilities; while interior “windows” along the corridors put research activities “on display”. Student work in the form of posters, nature image displays, and sample and model cases co-located throughout informal student gathering spaces and the building lobby.

<p>The Biological Sciences Building is itself a teaching tool for sustainability. All plantings, which were installed as a student project, are indigenous and were carefully selected to reduce irrigation requirements. The building handles storm-water runoff through bioswales, where water is cleaned before it moves on to rain chains directing water off the building. The bioswales serve both as storm-water management and a living lab. </p>

The Biological Sciences Building is itself a teaching tool for sustainability. All plantings, which were installed as a student project, are indigenous and were carefully selected to reduce irrigation requirements. The building handles storm-water runoff through bioswales, where water is cleaned before it moves on to rain chains directing water off the building. The bioswales serve both as storm-water management and a living lab.

<p>A large high-definition video wall in the atrium is a dashboard that monitors and displays water and power usage in real-time, along with air quality and room temperature.</p>

A large high-definition video wall in the atrium is a dashboard that monitors and displays water and power usage in real-time, along with air quality and room temperature.

Interior glazing enables passersby to see into research and instructional labs and experience science on display.

<p>The new building allows students to work together in groups. Faculty are more mobile in the labs and able to check on what the students are doing, answer questions, and challenge them.</p>

The new building allows students to work together in groups. Faculty are more mobile in the labs and able to check on what the students are doing, answer questions, and challenge them.

Technology Enhanced Active Learning classrooms provide a combination of lecture and lab work that can occur in the same room.

<p>The building has a variety of supporting research areas: museum and specimen collections, a microscopy suite, animal care space, an aquarium room, and an insectary where insects can be raised and studied.</p>

The building has a variety of supporting research areas: museum and specimen collections, a microscopy suite, animal care space, an aquarium room, and an insectary where insects can be raised and studied.

(The building) serves as the nexus where teaching and research converge to form south Georgia’s most comprehensive center for biological science and research. The facility will not only allow us to meet our educational expectations and provide state-of-the-art training for the future workforce of this great state, but will also greatly enhance Georgia Southern’s research capabilities.

Brooks Keel

President, Georgia Southern University

Sustainable design elements: Photovoltaic Panels; Solar Thermal Panels; Bioswales for stormwater management; All plantings are indigenous; Building Dashboard system to display real-time power and water consumption.

The building houses the Department of Biology which includes undergraduate and graduate studies in Biology, Microbiology, Parasitology, Zoology and Ecology.

The building consolidated the department and provided a new home for the students and faculty. 25% of the students now enrolled in biology go on to obtain PhDs.

Georgia Southern University

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at-a-glance

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