On Thursday, May 2, the Bates College team celebrated a significant milestone with an official groundbreaking ceremony for the new 54,000 science building. The state-of-the-art building will drive the evolution of science education at Bates, embracing the advanced technologies and interdisciplinary collaborations that characterize bioscience research and teaching.
Photo Credit: Michael Hinchcliffe, Payette
The Bates community came together to celebrate and the building’s formal name was debuted – the Bonney Science Center – honoring both the couple whose generosity made the center possible, Michael Bonney ’80 and Alison Grott Bonney ’80, and the extended Bonney family, whose connections to Bates date to the early 1900s.
Photo Credit: Rene Roy, Bates College
The day’s festivities included events for the campus with remarks from President Clayton Spencer and Payette Principal-in-Charge Bob Schaeffner, FAIA.
The new Bonney Science Center will be a state-of-the-art science teaching and research building that will serve the College for many years to come for programs in Chemistry, Biology and Neuroscience. Also important was to create a space for the whole college community to feel welcome. The science center beckons the campus with large windows to the student study lounge and the sculptural main entry staircase.
Bob Schaeffner
The Bonney Science Center will open to students in the Fall of 2021. Learn more about the event and construction process in from Bates College News.
Cape Cod Community College’s Frank and Maureen Wilkens Science and Engineering Center is a net-positive energy building designed to transform the heart of campus.
The project approaches sustainability through a holistic and global approach, implementing a range of moves including passive solar shading overhangs, air-source heat pumps, high performance materials with low embodied carbon and the expansion of the range of thermal comfort and lighting power density. Combined with on-site photovoltaics, the project achieves net-positive energy use.
The project’s thermally modified wood rainscreen façade is a study of the modern expression of vernacular Cape Cod architecture while reducing embodied carbon. Early lifecycle assessments identified the immense carbon savings of wood over fiber cement. The design team did not stop there, furthering reductions by peeling back unnecessary finishes like carpet and ceilings. Together, these decisions enabled a 19% reduction in embodied carbon.
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