Vanderbilt University - Nashville, TN
Stevenson Chemistry Building

This new facility for synthetic chemistry teaching and research is at the center of the 1960s Stevenson Science Center – a simple composition of five loft-like rectangular solids. The new building’s constrained site, the required adjacency to the existing chemistry facilities, and the desire to preserve the lovely Magnolia Courtyard all guided its placement above the existing lecture hall building and the below-grade science library. The lecture hall building is subsumed in the base of the new building – now the focal point of the Center. Laboratories are expressed in boxy Cartesian volumes with rigorous brick facades and punched windows, while the office, conference, entry, and circulation areas are faced in precast concrete and curtainwall. Stair and elevator cores are strong vertical elements in limestone.