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PROJECT UT Arlington Chemistry & Physics Building
CLIENT The University of Texas System
ARCHITECT Perkins+Will
DESIGN TEAM Richard Miller, AIA; Jerry Johnson, AIA; Gary McNay, AIA; Geoffrey Brooksher, AIA; Sean K. Garman; Carol Cumbie
CONTRACTOR Manhattan Construction
CONSULTANTS CCRD Partners (mechanical, plumbing); Infrastructure Associates (electrical); Walter P Moore and Campbell Associates (structural); Pacheco Koch Consulting Engineers (civil); Atelier Design Associates (accessibility); Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams (acoustical and vibration); Atkins, Hanscomb, Faithful & Gould, Busby & Associates (cost estimating); Shen Milsom & Wilke (information technology); Linda Tycher & Associates (landscape); Evans & Sutherland (planetarium); Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin (wind/ventilation); Vita-Tech Engineering (electromagnetic frequency interference)
PHOTOGRAPHER James Steinkamp

While the architectural style of the University of Texas at Arlington may not be as distinct as that of its sister campuses, UTA poses similar challenges to architects attempting to insert new facilities into a defined existing fabric. When choosing an architect for its new 124,000-square-foot chemistry and physics lab building, UTA officials recognized the need to employ an architectural team with experience in lab design, but more significantly they also understood that the new building must engage the campus in a meaningful way. To achieve these separate goals, the university's leadership chose to work with a larger firm offering a diverse portfolio of resources.

Perkins+Will's multi-office corporate structure allows it to take advantage of the expertise of personnel located throughout the country. For the lab building at UTA, personnel from its Atlanta office were brought in to head up the programming and planning of the laboratories. The Chicago office coordinated the overall design while the Dallas office - located closest to the construction site - handled overall project management, including the production of the construction documents and construction administration. While this way of dividing up work among multiple offices is complex, Perkins+Will has developed an effective system for successful interoffice collaborations, as evinced with this very complicated facility.

Prior to Perkins+Will's involvement, the UTA project's program had already been determined. However, because of the rapidly evolving nature of lab design the client asked Perkins+Will to revisit the process. One result of this reprogramming was the decision to more thoroughly integrate the chemistry and physics departments. Whereas preliminary diagrams located the two departments on opposite sides of an enclosed atrium, the two programs were ultimately mixed together. Informal meeting areas also were distributed throughout the facility to encourage cross-departmental exchanges of ideas.

Another idea that was embraced during reprogramming was the integration of a planetarium into the building's design. While somewhat hidden in a nondescript science building on campus, UTA's existing planetarium had historically enticed students outside of the department to take physics classes. It also served as an effective community outreach tool by bringing in grade-school students (as well as adults) onto campus for various presentations and programs. UTA officials saw the more prominent location of the new Chemistry & Physics Building as an opportunity to provide more a highly visible venue for such programs.

The massing of the project was in many ways fixed by the constraints of the site. Because of the site's location between UTA's main library and student union, the new building had the potential to act as a barrier to pedestrians traveling between those two facilities. With this in mind, the designers saw a unique opportunity to put "science on display." By re-imagining the enclosed atrium of the building as a public pass-through space, they ensured cross-campus traffic would not be interrupted. In addition, by filling the space with both digital and physical displays and by prominently locating the planetarium within the atrium, the department could essentially "advertise" the study of science to thousands of students each day.

The basic diagram of the building can be understood as a glass atrium to the west with three lab modules arrayed to the east. Set within the atrium is a limestone cylinder that houses the 165-seat planetarium at its base and a conference room on its upper level. Expressing the planetarium's idiosyncratic geometry resulted in two positive effects with impact that extends beyond the new building¡Xfirst by providing a conspicuous form to what otherwise might have been an anonymous building, and second by aligning the cylinder with an existing roadway to create a formal axis that helps weave the project into the larger fabric of the campus.

While the aesthetic consistency of the campus is admirable - due largely to the ubiquitous "UTA blend" orange brick that creates a coherent background texture - the overall sense of place is not particularly memorable and rarely is an iconic element introduced to establish a sense of hierarchy. As a result, the most compelling aspect of the Chemistry & Physics Building's design may be the manner in which the planetarium program is rendered to create a campus landmark.

Of course, the danger in introducing a standout building to a campus lacking such icons is creating a form that draws too much attention to itself. A building making "too much noise" is always more disruptive than one not making enough. The design team resolved this dilemma by creating a relatively quiet building that frames an iconic element whose formal qualities are explained both by the program contained within as well as its placement on campus.

The building's facade incorporates the standard UTA brick while at the same time subtly weaving into the composition an expanded palette of materials, including limestone, granite, and metal panels. Also, the designers have introduced glazed curtainwall to a campus that previously consisted mainly of masonry walls with relatively small punched openings.

One of the larger curtainwall expanses defines the three-story glass atrium that frames the planetarium. Internally, the planetarium is more like an immersive projection environment than merely a space to look at projected stars. Consisting of six digital projectors, the system is capable of full-dome video playback as well as more traditional planetarium presentations. In addition, the space is furnished with adjustable chairs that allow the space to be used as a standard - albeit more dramatic - lecture hall.

Generous internal glazing along a wide corridor leading off the atrium allows visitors to observe activities within the freshman teaching labs on the ground floor. Upper-level teaching and research labs occupy the second floor, with the third floor reserved for offices and research facilities for graduate students and professors. An outdoor public terrace occupies the roof of the planetarium and serves as a gathering space for members of the entire UTA community. While research labs comprise more than half of the building's area - which requires requisite security precautions - considerable effort went into providing amenities for the larger campus public.

Perkins+Will's new Chemistry & Physics Building raises the bar of design sophistication on the UTA campus. In addition to the design of the specific building itself, the thoughtful manner in which it is integrated into the campus to create an architecture that acts as both a landmark and as a natural extension of the context provides an example that future projects throughout the diverse UT system should follow.

--J. Brantley Hightower, Assoc. AIA, works with Lake/Flato Architects in San Antonio.