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Oberlin College has completed construction of its new Science Center in Oberlin, Ohio. Replacing the Kettering Science Building built in the 1960s, the new facility is a planned village of appropriately scaled buildings around a unifying “science lawn”. The Science Center houses teaching and research space for biology, chemistry, neuroscience and physics, as well as a new science library, shared lecture halls, and a common area.

In this new facility, research space is significantly increased for faculty-student collaboration, while teaching space is improved to accommodate a greater emphasis on discovery-based learning. Designed by Payette Associates of Boston, the Center’s layout blurs the distinction between scientific disciplines, allowing for flexibility and growth of one department into another. Internally, disciplines are arranged from left to right in a “wave” of interdisciplinary adjacencies that share related utility infrastructures and promote spontaneous collaboration across specialties.