The $13.1 million project expands opportunities for undergraduate research in the areas of biology, chemistry, and biochemistry.

The Science Building complements local historical structures while also responding to some of the less contextual buildings on campus. Fronting the central campus pond and adjacent to the campus Chapel, the Science Building creates a termination to a major campus axis and welcomes students through a more pedestrian-oriented entry courtyard. The more collegiate, “Low-country” architectural elements of the Science Building such as the pitched copper roof and eave brackets, porches, and ornamental metalwork are master planned to be incorporated into other buildings on the campus.

The 54,000-sf facility is two stories plus a mechanical penthouse beneath the roof. It has eight research laboratories, 11 teaching laboratories, 15 faculty offices, and additional classrooms. The building entrance features a rotunda with a open and monumental public staircase that fosters informal interaction, all underneath a copper-clad dome punctuated with clerestory windows. The downstairs lobby features several whiteboard lounge areas for collaboration. The second floor features a great room with more casual gathering areas and views of the campus across the pond and beyond.

Three of the Science Building’s labs house an extensive amount of equipment including mass spectrometers, gas and liquid chromatographers, spectrophotometers, a fluorimeter, a real-time protein chain reactor, and a fluorescence microscope.

The biology teaching labs can be sized for 16 to 30 students, and allow the faculty to roam the room and interact for a hands-on approach. The labs contain moveable tables to enhance the team learning approach. Tables with teams of two or four students can be arranged perpendicular to the teaching wall.

The chemistry labs accommodate 16 to 24 students in groups of two or four with a more traditional center bench approach, and fume hoods around the perimeter. The chemistry instrument labs and the research labs are equipped with adjustable tables and moveable casework to allow for all types of research and the potential of new equipment or faculty.

Support spaces including prep labs, tissue culture, and media prep/sterilization are shared between two similar labs. Other equipment includes biosafety cabinets, a large autoclave, an NMR, HPLC, AA, and other analytical equipment.

Utilities are accessible around the perimeter in wall outlets, and in umbilicals and in floor mounted/recessed boxes in the center of the room. Snorkel exhaust is at the bench, where needed. Chemistry instrument rooms are equipped with overhead service carriers to allow for easy change of services.

Project Information
Building Owner:		Charleston Southern University
Building Location:		Charleston, South Carolina UNITED STATES
Project Type:		New Construction
Principal Building Function:		Undergraduate science research
Project Delivery Method:		Construction Management
Project Timeline		Nov 2002 Planning Start Mar 2003 Design Start Jan 2004 Construction Start Aug 2005 Completion Last known status: Completed
Project Cost:		$13,100,100
Construction Cost:		$10,500,000
Cost Per Sq. Ft:		$195
		About These Cost Figures
Building Information
Project Includes:		Biology Chemistry Education Education: Classroom Laboratory: Teaching Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Research
Total GSF:		54,000
Project Team
Profile Created 02/23/2007
Last Updated 10/12/2007
About the Reported Cost Figures The cost figures reported are supplied by the firms that submitted these projects for publication, which in most cases are the designers or builders. Whereas these sources are intimately familiar with their projects, they may not be fully aware of the owners' finally-realized and recorded costs. In some cases, costs are truly and completely accounted for, and in others they represent a near approximation of the final costs. Costs have not been adjusted for year of construction, nor has any attempt been made to make regional cost adjustments. Further, costs are not comparable on any kind of detailed standard costing model. Hence, it is possible for the cost of one building to include a steam boiler, while the cost of a comparable building might not include the boiler, if steam is being supplied from an already existing campus grid. Or, in another case, a building might include excess boiler capacity to supply steam to another building. Some submittals include fees or unusual site improvements as part of the construction costs, which others do not.