Life sciences center goes ahead into design phase

Plans to build a new life sciences building at 38th Street and University Avenue are moving into a six-month-long design phase, and the new facility may be much larger than originally announced. The building -- to be constructed in two phases -- will house the Biology and Psychology departments, as well as provide space for genomics and cognitive neuroscience research. It will include state-of the-art wet and dry laboratories, classrooms and office space. Phase one of the project --which, in its entirety, is projected to exceed $90 million -- was approved by the Board of Trustees at their meeting on December 8. This phase will concentrate more on the project's biology components, while phase two will focus on the psychology portions of the building. The entire facility will have approximately 120,000 square feet of usable space -- 25,000 square feet more than originally planned. Penn is currently in the process of raising money for the project. Though Provost Robert Barchi would not say what percentage is to be financed through fundraising, he did say that the University hopes to pay a large portion of the bill through private donations. "In any academic building, our hope is to raise as much of the cost as possible through philanthropic donations," Barchi said. Construction of phase one is expected to take 18 months once ground has been broken, which will be in about six months. Administrators would not yet comment on the timeline for phase two, which is still pending approval by the Board of Trustees. According to Barchi, the decision to build in two phases came about because of two buildings behind Leidy Laboratories. "The reason why we had to do it in two phases has to do with the two small buildings behind Leidy that are occupied," said Barchi. New space had to be created to house the faculty and staff displaced by the demolition of the two buildings behind Leidy. Barchi also said that one of the best aspects of the new facility is the fact that biologists, psychologists, genomics researchers and other medical scientists will be working in such close proximity. "Modern biology is not done in vertical silos anymore," Barchi said. "Success in science will reflect your ability to collaborate, to form new interactions, to move horizontally in the system of researchers we have here at the University." Currently dubbed the Life Sciences Building, the new facility will probably be renamed after its largest donor. It will form the front-piece of the "life sciences quadrangle," which together will also be comprised of the Bio Pond and the Veterinary and Medical Schools. Biology department chair Andrew Binns echoed Barchi's enthusiasm for biology and psychology inhabiting the same building. "Having biology and psychology so close is really going to encourage cross-feeding between the two departments," Binns said. Binns also expressed excitement for the opportunity for biologists to work with genomics researchers side-by-side in the new facility. "It will really allow us to take part in the genomics adventure," Binns explained. Binns also stressed that as important as this new working relationship may be, the quality of the new facilities was one of the main attractions. After noting that current biology facilities "can be considered relatively poor," Binns said the new building "will provide us with close to, if not, state-of-the-art facilities."