Life Sciences Building
Fast Facts

• The new Life Sciences Building will foster interdisciplinary research and instruction. Housing Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Biology and the Center for Environmental Studies, the facility also will support the Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Mathematical Sciences and Physics departments.

• Life sciences at VCU is interdisciplinary, blending science, mathematics, medicine, technology and engineering. The curriculum links both departments as well as schools across both the Academic and Medical College of Virginia campuses.

• The new four-floor facility will create an academic quadrangle on the southwest corner of the Academic Campus. Science and math faculty -- as well as education professors who prepare future science teachers -- will be within just steps of each other's classrooms and laboratories.

• The Life Sciences Building will feature 18 undergraduate laboratories, including one dedicated to student research projects. In addition to general biology and anatomy laboratories, the building will offer specialty laboratories for advanced courses. Those include genetics, ecology, botany, physiology, molecular biology and microbiology.

• Faculty research in biology is focused primarily in three areas: plant sciences; ecology and environmental sciences; and cellular and molecular biology and physiology. The department's faculty totals 27.

• A top-floor greenhouse will offer a research-grade facility that can be controlled by humidity, temperature and light. The 3,000-square-foot greenhouse will support three environments simultaneously: desert, mild climates much like Central Virginia, and tropic.

• An Aquatics Facility, located in the basement, will have up to 20 research tanks for controlled experiments on both marine and freshwater fish, amphibians and other aquatic organisms.

• Nearly 800 undergraduates currently major in biology, the second-most popular bachelor's degree program at VCU. The department also enrolls 46 graduate students.

• Undergraduate and graduate students in biomedical engineering, chemistry, mathematical sciences and physics total about 450. Another 30 are studying in the Center for Environmental Studies. Most VCU undergraduates complete at least one biological sciences course as part of their degree program.

• The total project cost is $28.1 million, funded by general funds, revenue bonds and university funds. The construction cost is $21.5 million. Other funds will be used to outfit the building with science laboratories and equipment, as well as related construction costs.

• The project architect is Sverdrup Facilities Inc., of Arlington, Va., in association with Ayers-Saint-Gross of Washington, D.C. The construction contractor is CCI Construction Co. Inc. of Mechanicsburg, Pa.

• Construction will begin in February. VCU will open the building in summer 2001.