Major campus thoroughfare Smith Walk to reopen today

Smith Walk -- which runs from 33rd to 34th streets between Walnut and Spruce streets -- is scheduled to reopen today after a three-month closure to accommodate for phase one of the Institute for Advanced Sciences and Technology. Construction on the $52,000,000 Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories at 34th Street and Smith Walk will continue, though the facility should be ready for use by the end of 1997, according to Facilities Management officials. The new laboratories will provide increased research opportunities for students in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the School of Arts and Sciences and the Medical School. The facility will house a center for chemistry, a center for chemical engineering and a center for medical research. Each floor will connect with the Chemistry Building at 34th and Spruce streets, where undergraduate classes will still be taught. "The research conducted in [the laboratories] will range from understanding of biological functions to bioengineering approaches to human injury and aging," University President Judith Rodin said. The facility will provide the University with "an opportunity?to redefine the boundaries of today's science endeavors," she added. Designed by Robert Venturi of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc, the building's exterior is made of red brick with red brownstone trim. The lighter-trimmed windows are intended to reflect the style of the 19th century buildings in that area of campus. Construction has been supported by grants from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a $10 million donation from Board of Trustees Chairperson Roy Vagelos. According to Provost Stanley Chodorow, the laboratories are "part of a long-term plan to improve and modernize space for science and engineering disciplines on the campus and put Penn's departments in a position to compete for the best faculty and students in the world." Phase two of the IAST project will establish centers for cognitive and computer science and a center for technology transfer, which will promote any discoveries made by scientists working in the institute. IAST phase three will entail the creation of a science library, which will likely use the top floor of Hayden Hall, according to Vice President for Facilities Management Art Gravina. "We are pushing for joint ventures as far as facilities," Gravina explained. "Originally, each school at the University had its distinct location on campus. But as needs rose, they began to encroach on each others' districts. The IAST project provides an answer to this problem."