New Science Center

[hilltopper2000]

Here are the first renderings. Color me disappointed. Could they have tried to make this structure any uglier? Just throw on some honeycomb and it is Reiss 2! It picks up none of the stone or classical hints of the new business school building.

college.georgetown.edu/research/science/30642.html

[HometownHoya]

It looks like a science building. Seems like they tried to keep the stone/classical hints a little on the other side (facing the ICC) but they wanted to keep the windows and keep it open.

But hey, doesn't matter, they will be working for us in the business school building some day ;D

[SoCalHoya]

Not the prettiest building, but please do not call it Reiss 2. Reiss is not only ugly, it's impractical. And small. Did I mention ugly?

This at least looks quite science-y while still having a classic look one side (facing campus, seems). I give it an 7.8 (out of ten). The business school looks really nice, I'd give that an 8.8.

[HometownHoya]

If you also read the description, they are attempting to gain LEED silver certification and want extensive areas with natural light...I think being inside of it will be great, sortof like the backside of Leo's with all of those windows

[Oh My!]

Nothing, I repeat NOTHING could be as ugly as Reiss. This rendering actually looks like a move towards modern architecture, if the outer edge facing the baseball field is, as it appears, mostly windows.

[Jack]

It is nice to see that both this building and the MSB building recognize the importance of windows. It may be a bit of an overreaction, but anyone who has spent a lot of class time in ICC will appreciate the new direction.

[The Stig]

We have science at Georgetown?

[DFW HOYA]

Read the release again, and you'll understand why this building will be obsolete the day it opens, because it's more of a faculty building than a true science building.

The fundamental problem with the sciences at Georgetown is that GU still acts as if traditional biology, chemistry, and physics is the sciences. The 21st century will demand attention to issues Georgetown isn't even in the same time zone with, from biometrics and information assurance (which a school like GU could get millions in funding if it were an active participant) to the emerging concepts in applied science and AI, not to mention the huge issues of integrating public science and health through networked technolgies. These are issues that affect all four schools, but if it's not related to pre-med, it's not in the mix.

I'm afraid the building will be a nice new home for the faculty, but without the big picture thinking to ask what science in the US is going to be in 25 or 50 years, which is the lifespan of this building.

[utraquehoya]

I wouldn't judge the aesthetics yet; it's not clear that they've gotten to all the detail work. The renderings are very general right now. They don't have the specific touches that you'll see in the business school building, which is further along.

msb.georgetown.edu/alumni/new_building/
McDonough School of Business - New Building Index

I was speaking last year to one of the faculty who does bioinfomatics (sp? I have no idea what that is, but it sounded impressive); he seemed to be excited about the direction of the sciences at the university. But maybe he was being nice to someone whose eyes were glazing over.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

yeah they say them self: “We are at the 90 percent phase for concept design. This means we’ve determined the general shape of the building, its location on campus, the general layout of the floor plans, and the way different elements relate to each other. We are planning on as much flexibility as we can so the floor plans can accommodate future growth and different space and resource needs.”

And I don't know where you're getting the idea that this building will quickly become obselete. The article mentions several times th eplans to expand curiculum most likely to the new topics you refer to.

Also if you look at the plans the majority of the building is lab space.

[hoyatables]

apm29 said:

If you also read the description, they are attempting to gain LEED silver certification and want extensive areas with natural light...I think being inside of it will be great, sortof like the backside of Leo's with all of those windows

This detail is really impressive. Very few District buildings are even certified, let along silver. Kudos to Georgetown for making that commitment -- it's not a cheap one!

As for the building design, you can tell this is just basic blocking concept rendering. If they are planning to dig in '08, they are probably still 6-12 months from finalizing design development.

[bubbrubbhoya]

vegasrain said:

Nothing, I repeat NOTHING could be as ugly as Reiss. This rendering actually looks like a move towards modern architecture, if the outer edge facing the baseball field is, as it appears, mostly windows.

Maybe you don't include cars among everything, but I stand by my longtime assertion that nothing can ever be as ugly as a Pontiac AZTEK.

As far as the new building is concerned, the first impression I got was that it has the design cues of a church. The building looks like some nouveau nave, and the extensions going off in either direction towards Reiss and the Lot T side of Leavey are like the transepts. The tower on Leavey completes the picture as a steeple. Looking at the top right and the bottom middle pictures especially gave me this impression. The designers might have come upon this as a total coincidence, but I doubt it. Might be a stretch, but I think it's kind of a neat concept for Georgetown. (Unless I'm crazy and totally wrong about the design cues, which has a high probability.)

[thebin]

Agreed on many fronts....no building could ever be as ugly as Reiss, this new one has a general "science building" look to it while blending in with existing architecture as much as is desirable, and the Pontiac Aztec is the ugliest car designed over the last century.

I like it.

DFW....isn't stegthening the existing sciences such as biology physics and chem, which still as far as I know constitute the heart of science itself, the only practical approach to improving the school's currently weak science offerings? What is it you would like to see them work towards instead exactly? (Sorry, some of your objections went over my liberal arts head frankly.)

[DFW HOYA]

thebin said:

DFW....isn't stegthening the existing sciences such as biology physics and chem, which still as far as I know constitute the heart of science itself, the only practical approach to improving the school's currently weak science offerings? What is it you would like to see them work towards instead exactly? (Sorry, some of your objections went over my liberal arts head frankly.)

There's a lot of science out there that doesn't revolve around medicine. For example, information technology has huge implications over the next century and the relative cost is much less than engineering or other applied sciences.

And yet, when you click "Technology" on the CAS web site, there's an article about getting a mathematics degree.

college.georgetown.edu/research/technology/30417.html

[Jack]

I am another liberal arts idiot, but I do know that the science faculty is consistently attempting to pitch their programs as "more than pre-med." Their web content should do a better job of reflecting that, but I know they are very interested in true science geeks ("angular students") who might pursue careers in research. Problem is those students are likely to seek schools with impressive facilities, while the pre-med kids can be more content with receiving solid foundation for the MCAT even at the expense of cutting edge research.

[thebin]

Jack....that's the single best line from an outstanding 30 Rock season.

[AustinHoya03]

Another CAS liberal arts major here, so take this with a grain of salt.

I thought the point of the new science center was to help GU attract the best science-oriented students in America. I am not interested in science, but if I were, my interest would probably extend beyond "chemistry." Our competitors, Duke and Penn, blow us away in terms of choices for science students:

www.college.upenn.edu/departments/index.html

www.admissions.duke.edu/jump/academics/majors.asp

college.georgetown.edu/programs/depts.html

Perhaps these "interdisciplinary research initiatives" are intended to eventually spawn new science programs at Georgetown? It's not clear from the release. However, I have to think some sort of expansion is planned for the future. Otherwise, why not just renovate Reiss?

EDIT: By the way, I think the building looks cool.

[Nevada Hoya]

jack said:

I am another liberal arts idiot, but I do know that the science faculty is consistently attempting to pitch their programs as "more than pre-med." Their web content should do a better job of reflecting that, but I know they are very interested in true science geeks ("angular students") who might pursue careers in research. Problem is those students are likely to seek schools with impressive facilities, while the pre-med kids can be more content with receiving solid foundation for the MCAT even at the expense of cutting edge research.

Georgetown was a good place (for me) to be a chem major, but I wouldn't have wanted to stay around for grad school (except for the bball ). The science building has been long overdue. Reiss never really fulfilled the notion of a science building, since ALL of our labs were in WG. Maybe the new science building will continue that tradition.

[hoyatables]

nevadahoya3 said:

jack said:

I am another liberal arts idiot, but I do know that the science faculty is consistently attempting to pitch their programs as "more than pre-med." Their web content should do a better job of reflecting that, but I know they are very interested in true science geeks ("angular students") who might pursue careers in research. Problem is those students are likely to seek schools with impressive facilities, while the pre-med kids can be more content with receiving solid foundation for the MCAT even at the expense of cutting edge research.

Georgetown was a good place (for me) to be a chem major, but I wouldn't have wanted to stay around for grad school (except for the bball ). The science building has been long overdue. Reiss never really fulfilled the notion of a science building, since ALL of our labs were in WG. Maybe the new science building will continue that tradition.

Wow, I didn't realize just how thoroughly I had blocked out chem until that moment. Had absolutely no recollection of labs being in WG but you are absolutely correct, that is where they were. Wow.

[Coast2CoastHoya]

Ah Chem ... the class that made me switch from pre-med to Gov.

Ah Chem Lab ... that's another story. I think Buff and I might have given each other drain bramage.

One thing I sincerely hope the science building addresses is the need for lab activities to be in one building. Having chem labs in W-G, bio labs in Reiss, who knows what other labs elsewhere, is really not the most productive use of time and space. And, I hope that those labs are modernized.