Bridgewater State University’s Science and Mathematics Center earned an Honor Award in the SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture for Building Additions or Adaptive Reuse. This awards program recognizes excellence in planning, design and implementation efforts of firms and institutions, as well as the achievements of individuals whose lives and passions involve higher education.
The new Science and Mathematics Center is an interactive hub of student life and educational activity, established through the co-location of the sciences and math under one roof. The new facility also supports significant growth in scientific teaching and research. To situate the newly updated building within the existing campus context, the team proposed varying the material of the façade based on the exterior of the structure with which it interfaced. The completed project also creates a vital campus green, shared by the existing campus center and library. Entrances are located at the end of each of the three wings, newly integrating the complex into the network of campus paths and exposing the campus community to the programming housed within the structure.
The design team developed a two-phase approach to demolish one wing of the existing L-shaped building, gut renovate the remaining wing and create a major addition. The strategy first placed the major technical infrastructure for the complex in the new addition. This consolidation, coupled with thoughtful right sizing, allowed programs to relocate to their long-term locations in the new addition following phase one.
This project is pursuing LEED Gold Certification. The sustainable features include green roofs, stormwater re-use and soil recharge, solar panels for domestic hot water, heat wheel energy recovery systems, low volume and low static duct work and exterior sunshading. The careful right-sizing of HVAC and electrical systems allow for the more effective operation of systems and the use of hydronic chilled beams for cooling, so that the ventilation load is uncoupled from the heavy cooling requirement of the laboratory spaces.
