UTL Project Description
The new Undergraduate Teaching Lab and Biology Research Wing was conceived to complete
the existing Mudd Levi complex by closing off the open fourth side of the courtyard
and creating a new face to gently embrace Bufano Gardens to the north. The northern
façade will be entirely glazed to enhance views of the wooded hillside from the
labs and allow maximum northern daylight to enter the labs. At the center of the
complex a new student commons with coffee bar will be created on the rooftop of
the existing lecture hall to serve as a focal point for interaction and group identity
for the natural sciences community. Undergraduate teaching laboratories for Biology,
Chemistry, Neuroscience and BioPhysics will take place on the lower three floors
of the building with direct student access both from the new Mudd Commons and also
from White Walk to the east. The upper floor will be fit out to accommodate Biology
department research and have open lab, lab support and procedure space, meeting
and seminar rooms and faculty offices for 7 Principal Investigator led research
groups.
The 105,000 square foot new building will be a pragmatic and robust tool in the
service of research and teaching in the natural sciences, with simple but durable
finishes, abundant natural light, and modern equipment and systems. Particular attention
has been paid to ensure that the building will be a model for low energy usage with
a benchmark target set of using half of the energy of the average of the existing
science buildings on campus. These guiding principals will create a building suitable
for modern life sciences based research and able to accommodate evolutions in pedagogy
and research over time; while consistent with traditional Quaker values of simplicity,
thrift and the advancement of learning.
Construction will commence in June of 2011 with Johns Hopkins taking occupancy of
the finished building in the summer of 2013. The project team includes Ballinger
of Philadelphia for the architecture and engineering, and Whiting Turner of Baltimore
for Construction Management.
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