Purdue University, Chaney-Hale Hall of Science

Sited in the heart of Purdue University’s campus, the Chaney-Hale Hall of Science houses 33 teaching labs for biology, general chemistry, biochemistry, organic chemistry, and chemical engineering. The challenging central campus location is situated at the collision of two busy campus grids. Transparent east and west facades serve as beacons, sponsoring entry points that receive traffic from all directions while anticipating campus growth to the north and west. The design offers continuity with the campus fabric while creating enhanced visibility to and from the building and an interior pedestrian experience that celebrates lab-focused learning.

Awash in daylight and loaded with comfortable workspace, Chaney-Hale Hall has, for many, become a “home away from home.” Welcoming entrances filter visitors through generous corridors studded with comfortable seating. “Living rooms” are spread along the glass-fronted east and west sides of the building, providing views out to the campus and into the teaching labs. High sloped ceilings, and shaded glass provide modulated daylight to the whole building– including the basement.

Expanded corridors provide a continuous network of student collaboration space. Full transparency from the corridors to the labs puts science on display and allows students, faculty, and researchers to observe and participate in the scientific process without physically entering the lab or disrupting the research activity.

The building offers lab-of-the-future learning space for science and engineering courses, providing a flexible, highly visible, and technology-rich environment that encourages new modes of peer-to-peer engagement. The labs are supported by ample adjacent collaborative workspace for project teams. Lab technician offices, conference rooms, and hoteling offices for faculty are spread throughout the building, while the basement is home to extensive equipment and chemical storage with dumbwaiter access to upper floors.

Through smart planning and efficient mechanical systems such as chilled beams, the project has achieved an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 161 kBtu/sf/yr. This is a remarkable achievement for a building with 33 labs, 84 fume hoods, and 144 scavenger arms. Coupled with smart water management strategies, high indoor air quality, daylighting, native plantings, and other factors, the building was recently awarded a LEED Silver rating with 56 points.