New 10,000-square-foot L. S. Skaggs Applied Science Building at the University of Utah provides modern classrooms, laboratories and research facilities
Applied Science Building Opens for Fall Term at the U
The University of Utah just opened a new building connected to a renovated historic building for STEM students to explore the critical science of energy, air quality, climate change and drought that will house the departments of Physics, Astronomy, Atmospheric Science, and the Wilkes Center for Climate Change & Policy. The R S Skaggs Applied Science Building and the renovated Stewart building opened to students this fall. EDA Architects designed the project built by Okland Construction. The team included Envision Engineering. The buildings link through an outdoor plaza to the recently completed Crocker Science Center to form the 275,000-square-foot Crocker Science complex just south of President’s Circle. The opening shot above is the view from S. University Street.
The outdoor patio and the walkways are shown above in a view looking south with the Crocker Science Center to the back of me and the camera. To the left is the renovated historic Stewart building, and a connecting bridge leads to the new five-level L S Skaggs Applied Science Building.
Students walk and cycle by on an interior pathway leading from President’s Circle to the Pioneer Theater. The historical William Stewart Building was originally an elementary and middle school, and with the renovation it houses physics classrooms and labs.
The Stewart Building renovation preserved the original staircases and fireplaces. This view downstairs shows a study room and a hallway that leads to classrooms and labs.
This modern classroom is in the renovated William Stewart Building.
The connecting bridge to the new building looks back to the Stewart Building. The patio is in the center of the horseshoe-shaped Crocker Science Complex.
A dramatic two-story atrium is at the west end of the building, and it serves as the lobby for a large lecture hall. You will note three art pieces attached to the ceiling. These are by artist Bruce Shapiro and are entitled Three Medusae. The hanging strings of steel beads are motorized and programmed to constantly change shapes.
The lecture hall’s theater style seating steps up two floors and adds important lecture and presentation space for the University’s science community. There is a matrix of screens to manage sophisticated presentations.
On the second level, the passage to the lecture hall is through the wood paneling. The hallway offers conversation and study grouping, and past them is the entrance to the Wilkes Center for Climate Science.
Classroom space in the Wilkes Center offers the most modern technology for visuals.
The three floors above are dedicated to laboratories, classrooms, faculty offices, meeting rooms, collaboration study areas, graduate student workstations, and supporting facilities. Shown above is one of the laboratories. I photographed the building just before the fall term began and this laboratory hadn’t yet been stocked with supplies and equipment.
Upstairs, graduate student workstations are clustered in the center and faculty offices are aligned along the perimeter. Conference rooms and a study and collaboration area are behind me and the camera.
The building houses the astronomy program. A portion of the uppermost floor is a rooftop deck equipped with mounted stationary telescopes. The observatory can be seen through the window of the classroom above.
The building certainly generated a lot of student excitement. While I was making photographs, eager students walked by, peered in windows and tried to identify rooms and spaces. If there is a public lecture series in that spacious new lecture hall, I couldn’t encourage you more to attend and have a look at this sparkling new addition to campus.
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