Princeton University Wins SCUP Merit Award

Princeton University’s new Frick Chemistry Laboratory earned a Merit Award in the SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture for a New Building category. 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 Frick Chemistry Laboratory is a state-of-the-science facility for academic chemistry research and teaching, and will play a strong role in recruitment of both top-tier faculty and an expansion of student chemistry majors. The building supports the expanding focus of research for the department in chemical biology, energy, catalysis and chemical synthesis and materials with the goal to achieve advancement into the top chemistry programs in the country. Completed 81 years after its Collegiate Gothic predecessor, the building redefines the nature of the academic community as a comprehensible social unit combining teaching and research labs, office space and an array of collaborative social spaces.

The central atrium filters natural light into the laboratory and programs on all levels. Extending the length of the building, the atrium creates a single unifying space which links all activities and functions programmatically as the departmental commons. This is the focus that brings everyone together, to integrate teaching and high-level research, and enhance collaboration and creativity. The “café” allows people to dine, relax and converse at bistro style seating. Beyond its aesthetic and programmatic importance, the atrium is an integrated component of the building systems, essential to its sustainable design approach of passive transference to reduce laboratory air requirements.

For further reading on this project, visit our project page.