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Beloit College students Alex Catalan'10, Clara Pfeiffer'10, Alyssa Schultz'10, and Hilary Dixon'11 created this video project as a result of the course "Buildings as Teachers". It highlights the many unique features that make the new Center for the Sciences—a LEED certified green building—such an important part of the Beloit College campus and community. This video was first presented on Dec. 9, 2008.

An official dedication ceremony for the new Center for the Sciences was held on Oct. 10, 2008, in the center's spacious public atrium. The dedication—well attended by College trustees, faculty, staff, students, and Beloit community leaders—was followed by a reception and tours of the building. The new 117,000-square-foot, $37 million facility opened for classes this fall and is the single most ambitious building project in the history of the College.

Click here to view more photos of the new Center for the Sciences.

On August 26, the 117,000-square-foot, $37 million Center for the Sciences opened its door to classes. The dramatic new structure will provide teaching opportunities with a rooftop renewable energy research area and kiosks that provide live data on the building, among other things. It houses 10 departments and programs and has been under construction since a spring 2007 groundbreaking. The building itself was completed with the installation of the green, vegetated roof. Throughout the coming year, the overall science center project will continue with the completion of entryways, the deconstruction of the now-vacant Chamberlin Hall and the installation of gardens.

Over the course of four decades, many of this nation's pedagogical reforms in science education have been driven by Beloit. The Center for the Sciences assures Beloit's preeminent position in the preparation of students to play an important role in the 21st century. The environmentally conceived center will build on Beloit's reputation for curricular design, reflect its commitment to cutting-edge science education and prepare a new generation of scientists and scientifically literate citizens.

The building includes more than 50 instructional and research laboratories, a score of class and seminar and conference rooms and 57 student and faculty offices and lounges.

The building is particularly noteworthy for the "green" features which collectively will allow the college to apply for U.S. Green Building Council LEED Silver Certification. In addition to the green roof, the building's "green" features include storm-water cisterns for greenhouse watering, native plant landscaping, high recycled content for building materials and furnishings and energy-efficient design management systems and windows. The construction has relied on building materials produced locally and regionally.