The 80,000 square foot Physical Sciences Building (PSB) is now open! It provides space for 80 chemistry graduate students and postdocs in 22,000 square feet of state-of-the-art synthetic chemistry labs on Levels 1 and 2, and specialized, “high bay” space for physics on the lower floor. The PSB will be home to 6-8 chemistry research groups, including the Andrew, Kittilstved, Thayumanavan, and Venkataraman groups, who have just moved in (August 2018), as well as new faculty hires.

The building was designed by Wilson Architects and construction was managed by Whiting-Turner. Enhancing collaboration between groups and within a group was a major design goal, as was creating efficient use of space with the flexibility to be readily adapted to meet evolving research needs. The labs feature an open floor plan, so lab space for one group is adjacent to that of another, with no walls between them. In addition to the clear advantages of increasing interactions between groups, this provides the ability for the amount of lab space each group uses to broadly follow changes in group size.

The PSB incorporates numerous green building features and has earned Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, which is very challenging for a building with such high air-handling requirements. The extensive windows and glass wall allow natural light to illuminate the labs. Energy-and water-saving features include high-efficiency fume hoods with a hood monitoring system to encourage closing of hood sashes when not in use and a closed-cycle chilled water loop (for stills, etc.). There is open space for specialized instrumentation like glove boxes, and dedicated rooms for high hazard work, solvent dispensing, and mammalian and bacterial cell culture.