The upcoming construction of the Life Sciences Building has trapped Penn's Biology Department between a rock and a hard place -- or more precisely, a much-needed facility and a historic botanical garden.
Plans to break ground on the building next summer remain on schedule, effecting the western side of the BioPond, the University's man-made urban oasis.
Over 35 trees will be removed to make room for the facility, which will be constructed on the garden's entire western edge, while about a dozen will be relocated.
The five-story building will also block sunlight to the area, according to BioPond Garden manager Tracylea Byford.
"It will lose a lot of color," Byford said, noting that much of the foliage in the affected space will have to be uprooted and replaced, as the types of plants that thrive in the shade are limited.
She said, however, that the pond itself, which was renovated two years ago, will not be impacted by the construction.
The building -- which will be located on 38th Street and Hamilton Walk, next to Leidy Laboratories -- will be erected in two phases, the first of which is slated to begin next summer and be finished in 2005.
The University approved the building's construction in the spring of 2000, and after two years of fundraising and architectural planning it will finally commence.
The $57 million first phase of construction will build space for the Biology Department, and the second -- which will carry a similar price tag -- will accommodate the Psychology Department.
The end product will feature over 100,000 square feet of wet labs, animal, plant and fish facilities, greenhouses and office space and will also house the Genomics Institute. However, there is no timetable as of yet for the second phase of the project, as it relies on the completion of first and still faces financial constraints.
"Phase Two is limited by the fact that we haven't raised the money for it yet," said School of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean David Balamuth, who chairs the Life Sciences Building committee.
While the committee took the botanical garden's welfare into consideration, the need for updated facilities was decided to be Penn's first priority.
"The institution's primary goal is research and education," Balamuth said.
Balamuth said that it is impossible to please everyone, but that he is sure that the construction will only minimally affect the BioPond.
"In the end, we'll have a fabulous building and a fabulous garden," he said.
But some people are not so sure of that.
The Friends of the BioPond, a group of students, staff and community members, held a protest over the summer and proposed that the building be located elsewhere.
And Byford said that although she knows that plans are final, designing a taller and narrower building could have reduced damage.
She added that her colleagues have also been concerned about the garden's bird population flying into the large glass windows proposed to cover the side of the facility, as staff members have found carcasses near smaller glass surfaces around campus.
"As a graduate of the Biology Department, I know they need a new building," Byford said. "But I object to this building because it's not good for the garden."
Building encroachment onto the BioPond is not a new problem, however, as the garden has suffered the effects of urban and institutional development since its conception over a century ago.
Created in 1897 by Penn's Botany Department, the BioPond quickly shrank from five to three acres following the construction of the Medical and Leidy Laboratories. It then slowly dwindled to two acres after the widening of 38th Street in the 1930s and the addition of more facilities during the 1980s. And although BioPond proponents were expecting that the tides would turn when the garden reclaimed a parking lot, news of the Life Sciences Building's proposed location dashed that hope.
"It shouldn't be a fringe benefit," Byford said, adding that the BioPond is one of the most unique features of Penn's urban campus. "It should be a necessity."
The photo caption in this article states that construction on the Life Sciences building will begin in November. Construction will actually begin next summer.
