Bridge for Laboratory Sciences, Vassar College, Integrated Science Commons
The newly completed Integrated Science Commons redefines the identity of the sciences, establishing a coherent science precinct on Vassar’s arcadian campus. Its focus is the Bridge Building, which is a transformative connector, physically connecting the sciences and the Vassar community with the surrounding wetlands.
As architects we think about how people experience our buildings. It is important to engage and propel the user along a journey. The curvilinear design creates a sense of discovery as the views unfold – both in to the sciences and out to the landscape.
An outgrowth of a programming and needs analysis of all Science Departments at the College, the project consolidates scientific disciplines that had previously been dispersed in facilities across campus.
The two-story curved form of the new building meanders through the woods, seamlessly integrated with the natural landscape, scale and campus aesthetic of the College. Its curved interior passageway provides panoramic views of the natural landscape below, while creating a central corridor for student activity.
It is a conduit, drawing students through it and providing an efficient route between the campus core and remote parking.
The Bridge building straddles the surrounding wetlands, with two concrete piers on either side of Fonteyn Kill stream supporting a truss which spans the ravine. In turn, the floors of the building are hung, creating a lightweight and open structure, thereby minimizing the building’s impact on the natural landscape underneath.
Clad in fiber cement and stone, the building’s façade is inspired by the dense, tree-lined landscape. The Bridge incorporates a number of innovative façade features designed to minimize bird collisions, including a fritted glass curtainwall and largest application of Ornilux glass in the United States to date.
New facilities center on multi-disciplinary laboratories and program suites to foster collaboration between departments, researchers and students from different fields of study. In addition, sustainable design elements encourage the science departments to use the building as a didactic research and teaching tool.
Completing the Integrated Science Commons, the historic New England and Sanders Physics, which house offices, classrooms and dry labs, have been completely renovated. Olmsted Hall for Biological Sciences, which houses the Biology Department, shared classrooms and a vivarium, has been partially renovated.
Details
- Year
- 2016
- Location
- Poughkeepsie, NY
- Size
- 157,000 GSF
- Program
- Laboratories, Classrooms, Offices, Administration Spaces, Lecture Halls, Shared Public Spaces, Café
- LEED Silver
Team
- Ennead Design Team
- Richard Olcott, Timothy Hartung, V. Guy Maxwell, Kate Mann, Todd Walbourn, Theresa O'Leary, Charmian Place, Kathleen Kulpa, Christina Ciardullo, Edgar Jimenez, Hiroko Nakatani, Tom Offord, Yong Roh, Suzanne Troiano, Constance Vale, Hans Walter, Desiree Wong
- Laboratory
- Jacobs Consultancy, GPR Planners Collaborative
- Photography / Videography
- Richard Barnes, Karl Rabe/Vassar College, Aislinn Weidele/Ennead Architects, Spirit of Space/Small Stuff
Press
- 2016
- Brant, Abbott. "Vassar's new Bridge for Laboratory Sciences connects students with new studies" (Poughkeepsie Journal. 5/5/2016)
- Hill, John. "For the Birds" (World Architects, 5/9/2016)
- Morales, Chloe. "Vassar College Announce Completion of Integrated Science Commons" (Mid-Hudson Valley Patch, 5/5/2016)
- Goldhagen, Sarah Williams. "Bridge for Laboratory Sciences at Vassar College" (Architectural Record, 11/01/2016)
- Lubell, Sam. "How to Keep Buildings From Killing Hundreds of Millions of Birds a Year" (Wired, 11/02/2016)
- 2011
- Clevenger, Caitlin. "Science Center Plans Presented" (The Miscellany News, 1/26/2011)
- Dunlop, Beth. "A Bridge to Discovery: Sometimes in Order to Get from Point A to Point B, You Need a Bridge. " (Vassar: The Alumni Quarterly, January 2011)