The Molecular and Life Science Center which opened its doors to students this semester serves as a state-of-the-art science facility and is the first of two new buildings at CSULB. Tracey Roman/Online Forty-Niner

 

Molecular and life science center opens

By Kara Ogushi
Online Forty-Niner
Assistant News Editor

Although the new Molecular and Life Science Center has been open for just a few months, it is a project that has been in the works since the early 80s. The new building is one of two buildings planned; the second building is expected to be built by 2009.

The original science building, built in 1956, was not intended as a science facility. Its purpose was simply to be a generic facility for teaching.

"We tried to renovate the Peterson Hall 3 building before receiving the bond and it was chaos," said Associate Dean, Dr. Robert Loeschen.

"There were no lights, no heat and leaky roofs. After that, the campus realized the need for a new building."

The problems with the building, such as no data hook up and dust-sensitive equipment were a few of the reasons that Loeschen pushed so hard for a new building.

Loeschen and Dean of Natural Science Dr. Laura Kingsford, hired McClellan and Copenhagen as lab designers and A.C. Martin & Partners as architects to help with the project.

The 88,000 square feet building cost $31 million to build and began construction January 2001. The occupation of the building began June 2004 and was dedicated Sept. 10.

Air conditioning was added to keep windows closed in order to prevent dust from contaminating experiments and damaging delicate equipment. Many fume exhaust hoods were built in order to allow for a larger variety of experiments.

Fume exhaust hoods are used to blow out contaminated air from contained areas where students are working with dangerous solvents. These hoods blow the contaminated air 100 feet above the building, which meets environmental standards.

The real directed studies laboratory allows advanced level students to work directly with professors on individual projects. The new laboratories also allow students working on similar studies to be close to each other and work together with common equipment.

"The students and faculty couldn't wait to get in. Ninety-nine percent were very pleased with the building and the remaining 1 percent just needs time to get used to it," Kingsford said.""The rooms are not as big as before, but are more efficiently organized and can be changed to fit any future needs."

The building consists of three floors. The first floor is dedicated to biology classes. The second floor is dedicated to upper division and graduate students with intensive laboratory experiments in biochemistry and molecular biology. The third floor is dedicated to undergraduate laboratories in chemistry and directed studies laboratories for organic and inorganic chemists.

"It's so open and bright, you don't feel as if you are in a cave and it's nice having everyone so close together and working together in the labs," said Denise Thatcher, a biology major.

The facility also has a special feature on the windows and doors that reflect heat and conserve costs. The building was built in an offset manner in order to allow as much natural light in as possible.

"Part of the reason why I became part of this project was to conserve the scenic view. We lost that when PH 3 was built," Loeschen said. "That's why I wanted to ensure that when the new building was built, it would have plenty of windows for the students."

Loeschen and Kingsford are in the early planning stages for the second building, which will replace Peterson Hall 3. Proposition 55 has appropriated funds for the second building, which will be a mirror image of the new science center.

This will cut down the current five buildings to three and create a courtyard for students to relax and study.

The facility was built so well that its architect A.C. Martin and Partners and CSULB received an honor award from The American Institute of Architects Long Beach/ South Bay Chapter in 1999.

It's really a place for students," Kingsford said.""It's a place of sharing and collaboration for students and faculty. It's phenomenal to think of the ideas that will come out."