Mercer University in Macon, Ga., has officially opened the $44 million, 143,410 square-foot Spearman C. Godsey Science Center.
The project provides 60 state-of-the-art teaching and research labs, to accommodate research activity in chemistry, biology and neurosciences.
The university tore down the Patterson Building to make room for the facility, which anchors a STEM quadrangle incorporating School of Medicine and School of Engineering facilities and Willet Science Center.
“Our undergraduate sciences faculty and administrators have invested several years in meticulously planning a 21st-century science facility that will serve our students and faculty well into the future,” says Mercer President William D. Underwood.
In addition to general biology and chemistry labs, the center has specialized teaching labs in soil and field biology, anatomy and physiology, infectious diseases, molecular and cellular biology, organic chemistry, problems in chemistry and biochemistry.
Specialized labs housing instrumentation and a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, as well as a laser lab, computational center, growth room, cold room and tissue culture suite are also housed in the facility.
The program is laid out in two wings that come together in the corner commons space. The commons space is situated in a prominent corner and forms a gateway to the new STEM quad.
The commons space serves as an informal gathering space in the building, it is populated with “coffee house”-style seating to encourage small group collaborations and study. One of the corridors is intentionally oversized, enabling students to spill into the building wings and engage in breakout sessions outside lecture halls, teaching labs and the research labs on the upper floors.
The architects are LEO A DALY and Hussey Gay Bell.
