The Science and Technology Building at East Carolina University houses the university’s departments of Chemistry and Industry & Technology and is the first phase in a three-stage master plan for a new science and technology quadrangle on campus. The building is positioned to create a series of interconnecting exterior spaces while preserving an adjoining woodland and arboretum. The 250,000 square foot facility combines classrooms with research and teaching labs, faculty offices and administrative functions. The building employs advanced communication and information technologies, offering programs for distance learning and teleconferencing in a fully wireless environment.

The project is conceived as a pair of converging building blocks joined at their intersection with the street to create an evident sense of entry as well as a welcoming gateway to the central green beyond. The three story block to the north houses four lecture halls with a total of 750 seats. The five story building to the south contains classrooms, research and teaching laboratories, administrative space, and departmental libraries, with faculty offices stacked on its western end. The project was an early demonstration of environmentally sustainable design, employing horizontal solar shades to screen its south facing glass to reduce cooling costs while admitting generous daylight to the facility’s primary laboratories and classrooms.

Philip Szostak, AIA serving as Principal-in-Charge and Design Principal, NBBJ, North Carolina