Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
The Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies is a research facility at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The 218,000-square-foot (20,300 m2) building is located on 15th street between RPI’s Playhouse and Academy Hall, next to the Center for Industrial Innovation. The institute hopes the new facility will help to encourage collaboration between experts in different fields, allowing them to solve problems that they would be unable to solve alone. As of 2008, the director of the center is Jonathan Dordick.
Ground was broken on May 17, 2002 for the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies as part of the Rensselaer Plan, a $400 million campus improvement project. Much of the plan was made possible by a $130 million anonymous donation in December 2000 Construction lasted through September 2004 when the building officially opened. However, researchers did not begin to use the new facilities until well into the fall 2004 semester.
Early in 2001, Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann of Butler, Pennsylvania and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania were chosen by Rensselaer as the architecture firms to handle the design of the structure Board chairman of Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates, Richard Rittelmann who obtained an architecture degree from RPI in 1960, was chosen to lead the project. Rittelmann was chosen for the project as his firm was a national leader in the design of research and biotechnology buildings. During the project, twelve students participated in a two credit course called “Tracking the Biotechnology Center,” a course designed for civil engineering and architecture students. Mark Mistur, an associate professor of architecture, along with Rittelmann designed the course thinking it “would be a wonderful opportunity for students to see the whole process, including the struggles and successes that result when architects and engineers work together.” The course brought students through the entire process of constructing a building. Topics of the course included everything from the physical construction and design processes of the building to the legal issues associated with such a large project.
The Biotechnology Center is from what appears to be, from the inside, two separate L-shaped buildings. The first of these “buildings” is a group of offices with one three story wing facing 15th Street and another four story wing facing College Ave. The second “building” is a four story section of laboratories that run adjacent to the Center for Industrial Innovation. A large glass atrium separates the two sections. Elevated walkways allow researchers to pass from their offices across the atrium to their laboratories. This is done because laboratory space is very expensive to build and has strict code requirements. Separating the spaces allows for a more cost effective design.
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