- Area: 90000 ft²
- Year: 2009
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Photographs:Timothy Hursley
Text description provided by the architects. The building opened last fall and serves students from throughout the College of Science and Mathematics who have greater access to new and improved lecture halls on the first floor and computer labs throughout the building. The building is home to the Department of Biology’s office as well as much of the department’s offerings, including teaching and research activities. Chaparral Hall includes 18 research labs, nine introductory teaching labs and 13 lecture rooms in addition to a DNA sequencing lab and a microscopy suite. The building has two computer labs equipped with high-speed “hard wired” and wireless connections. The building also supports fiber optic data transmission required by high-bandwidth instruments like the new confocal and electron microscopes.
The complex encompasses a four story outdoor lobby and plaza and a three-level outdoor public staircase which facilitates circulation to the teaching labs located on the upper floors, serves to orientate visitors, and promotes social interaction.
A plaza facing the Botanical Gardens offers the students quiet space for study and reflection. A continuous outdoor covered walkway enables pedestrian circulation around the facility while visually connecting the Science Complex and the campus.
