AJ News

The Quandel Group Inc. of Scranton has received a contract to manage the construction of the new $73 million Unified Science Center for the University of Scranton.

The new 200,000-square-foot, four-story facility will  feature 22 class and seminar rooms, 34 laboratories, 80 offices, rooftop greenhouse for research, a 180-seat lecture hall for symposia and seminars, an atrium, several faculty/student research and meeting areas, and a faculty meeting room modeled after the team room at Oxford University. The facility is also designed for Silver LEED certification, according to information from Quandel Group.

The facility incorporates innovative science teaching techniques based on the concepts developed by the Project Kaleidoscope organization, which is a National Science Foundation initiative intended to enhance the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning in the sciences, according to Quandel Group.

The center is designed to maintain Scranton’s tradition as a teaching/learning community, while allowing for faculty and students to organize by function, program or research affiliation. By using spaces for shared instrumentation and resources, the design optimizes space for faculty/student research.

The Unified Science Center will serve the university’s departments of biology, chemistry, computing sciences, physics/electrical engineering and mathematics as well as several interdisciplinary programs, including neuroscience and biochemistry, cell and molecular biology.

This is Quandel’s third project for the university. The firm also managed the construction of the Patrick & Margaret DeNaples Center and the Condron Residence Hall.

The new science center is expected to be completed in fall 2011.