Rollins College Opens Newly Renovated Science Center
WINTER PARK, Fla. — Rollins College recently celebrated the opening of the $30 million Archibald Granville Bush Science Center, a newly renovated and expanded interdisciplinary science facility. Featuring dozens of classrooms and teaching and research labs, this state-of-the-art center will provide students with increased research opportunities and an engaging, interactive and integrated learning environment.
This 103,580-square-foot facility is now the largest educational facility on the school’s campus, and is home to the biology, chemistry, computer science, marine biology, mathematics, physics and psychology programs. Complete with multiple faculty offices and student lounges, the center also allows for more effective and collaborative research, supporting connectivity and accessibility across disciplines.
“In the new building, we no longer have departmental areas for each of the sciences,” said Archibald Granville Bush Professor of Science Thomas Moore. “Each collection of faculty offices includes people from different departments, so biologists, physicists, chemists and mathematicians will interact on a daily basis. More importantly, so will the students studying these different fields. The divisions between the scientific disciplines were constructed by people. Therefore, people can eliminate them. Our students will be at the forefront of that effort.”
Rollins College President Lewis Duncan added, “The science center’s dynamic, interdisciplinary spaces create an atmosphere of scientific discovery and will allow us to keep pace with the emerging technology of the 21st century. With a national focus on STEM education, Rollins is better equipped to encourage and support current and future students to pursue scientific fields.”
Though defined by its modern and innovative approach to science, the center’s exterior blends seamlessly into the campus’ distinctive Spanish-Mediterranean architecture. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering, a prominent feature of this new facility is the three-story Rice Family Atrium. With promenade-facing floor-to-ceiling windows, the atrium provides lovely views of the outside green space and welcomes pedestrian traffic. Once inside, visitors experience a contemporary and cutting-edge environment with ample space for study, collaboration and research. It also provides a communal space from which to view cutting edge research in the moment.
“Transparency was a primary objective in the design of the building,” said Rollins College Director of Facilities Management, Scott Bitikofer. “You are able to see into the laboratories and classrooms and actually watch science happening.”
In keeping with its scientific goals and purpose, the new facility is also a model of green construction and sustainability. The building boasts many eco-conscious features such as an energy recovery wheel for retrieving energy lost during cooling and dehumidification, direct digital control, LED lights and chilled-water powered air conditioning. The site will also utilize a rainwater harvesting system for non-potable usage. Outside, Florida-native cypress trees aid in the natural treatment of storm water. Rollins anticipates that the building will receive LEED Gold certification.
The project was made possible with the support of the Charles E. and Dianne T. Rice Family, F. Duane Ackerman, the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation and the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation. Edyth Bush, the late founder of the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, was the wife of the building’s namesake, the late Mr. Archibald Granville Bush. Gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Bush and from Mr. Bush’s foundation, the Minnesota-based Bush Foundation, supported the original construction of the building in the 1960s.