Biology Department sets sights on new facility

The building, which is still in the planning stages, will offer increased lab space. Leaky ceilings, cramped work space and impure air are hardly the most conducive conditions for cutting-edge biological research. But faculty members and students in the Biology Department will get a reprieve from such negative conditions within the next few years with the construction of a new, top-quality facility. Plans for a new biology research building are "moving ahead smartly," according to Samuel Preston, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. He added that final-cost figures for the building -- expected to be between $40 million and $45 million -- should be determined later this month, although funding sources have not yet been identified. Preston could not estimate when construction on the building would begin. The new facility will be located off of Hamilton Walk between 37th and 38th streets at the current site of either the Kaplan Wing of Leidy Laboratories or one of the nearby greenhouses, although Director of Facilities Planning Titus Hewryk maintained that facilities planners are still "studying various options." Hewryk said the University hired Ellenzweig Associates, a "well-known," Boston-based architectural firm, to oversee the planning of the project. Ellenzweig recently supervised the construction of the new high-rise research facility at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Biology Department Chairperson Andy Binns said the construction of a new building to replace current facilities is long overdue. "It started with bad design," he said of the current buildings. "It finished with the fact that renovating the space would be so expensive and not worth the dollar." Binns cited the poor conditions of the department's current facilities as the impetus for the proposed construction, identifying poor lighting, leaky floors and ceilings and faulty temperature control systems as some of the problems in the laboratories in Kaplan and the Goddard Laboratories building. Binns explained that other factors, including the need to completely replace air-purification systems to conform with new University regulations, make it too expensive to renovate the existing buildings. He added that the wood roofing in Kaplan would not be able to support any additional weight, which would also make renovations "more expensive than building new space." "I want good labs," Binns said. "Forty or 50 percent of the lab space available is not going to be feasible for the next 10 years." Biology Professor Nancy Bonini, who conducts genetic research in a renovated lab in Leidy, said a lack of quality laboratory space impacts heavily on research. "In our department, there are a number of people who have severe facilities problems," she said. "[Leaky ceilings] have destroyed computers and equipment and experiments in progress." Of the department's 30 full-time faculty members and 130 undergraduate majors who graduate each year, most conduct research in the University's facilities, Binns said. "I've got two people cloning things in there as we speak," Binns said, pointing from his office to an adjacent lab. Both Bonini and Binns said they believe the new research space will enhance the University's reputation in the sciences. "I think it will not only allow the department to be more productive, but it will allow us to attract new top-rate scientists," Bonini said. According to Hewryk, the research building is still in the "concept" stage, meaning the faculty and architects are still evaluating the needs of the department to conclude what facilities to include in the new structure. "My job is to come up with the best plan in terms of building and programs -- what's good in biology these days," Binns said. He added that he hopes to see four new floors of space devoted to research labs, with many current facilities being converted to classroom and office space. Jean-Marie Kneeley, the SAS vice dean for external affairs, said the long fund raising process will begin after architectural plans are finalized in the fall. "We have not yet begun to actively solicit funds," she said, though she said many potential donors have been identified. Kneeley cited a number of difficulties in funding a project of this size and purpose. "We have to identify people capable of making large donations," she said, referring to the building's multi-million-dollar price tag. "We're not going to make that kind of money with $25,000 donations." She also said that as opposed to general interest projects like the Perelman Quadrangle -- in which fund raising went "very quickly" -- a building for use by the Biology Department has a "smaller donor pool." As for the name of the facility, Kneeley said that "named gift opportunities" have not yet been determined. "We haven't determined how much it would cost to name the building," she said.