Dean Richard G. Plumb of the Seaver College of Science and Engineering has released details and architectural drawings of the planned Life Sciences Building and announced that approximately half of the needed $75 million is in hand.
Plumb described the building as “a magnet” that is essential for the college to compete. “If we are going to stay current and we are going to attract the best faculty and the best students, we need to have the infrastructure that facilitates the teaching and research that are the hallmarks of the sciences at LMU,” Plumb said.
The 103,500-square-foot science building will house chemistry, biology, biochemistry and natural sciences. It will “touch the lives of 60,000 students over its projected 50-year lifespan,” he said.
The building will include:
• 24 teaching laboratories
• 50 faculty and staff offices
• 10 informal student study spaces
• 3 conference rooms
• 16,000 square feet of faculty laboratory and research space
• A multi-purpose auditorium with an 1,800-square-foot terrace
The new life sciences building will form the cornerstone of what will become the Seaver College Complex. The complex will house Pereira Hall, Seaver Hall and the new life sciences building, creating one location for all the departments of the Seaver College of Science and Engineering. The new building will be constructed west of Pereira Hall in the footprint of the existing employee parking area. Beneath the new building will be parking for 370 vehicles.
A particularly distinctive feature of the building will be an open design to foster collaborative learning among students and faculty. Multiple open spaces equipped with white boards will encourage discussion and teamwork. Notably, 30 percent of the building’s energy will come from renewable sources.
A start date for construction has not been announced but planning work is continuing. The building’s design was created through an extensive planning process that involved staff, faculty and the architects, CO Architects of Los Angeles, renowned for designing significant science facilities at universities across the country.
Students will not only benefit from the functionality of the building itself, but from the exceptional equipment within. “Our undergraduates currently have access to equipment that most students would not be allowed to touch until they began their Ph.D. programs,” Plumb said. “We allow them to work with this equipment as undergraduates, giving them an enormous advantage when they apply to graduate school, medical school, or dental school. Students learn much from traditional classes but they learn invaluable additional lessons by completing a research project with a faculty member. There are no boundaries.”
In discussing the project, Plumb returned several times to discuss his goals for the college and how the building fits the mission of the university. “This building is about preparing students. They will not only have the technical expertise to understand complex problems facing our society, but to solve them.”