UW-Milwaukee began construction on a $118 million state-of-the-art chemistry building in December to replace the 50-year-old building that currently stands, though plans to demolish the existing building have not been approved by Gov. Tony Evers.
The design of the new building aims to be welcoming, adaptable, collaborative and promote research and innovation, according to a 2020 pre-design report by Kahler Slater and Cannon Design, the architects for the project.
The four-story, 163,405 square foot building will be located along Kenwood Blvd. between the Physics Building and Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and will serve as a gateway to STEM buildings at UWM, chemistry officials said.
Over 5,000 students from multiple majors take chemistry courses annually, according to the chemistry department.
Chemistry is considered a “central science” as students from different majors, like nursing or freshwater sciences, take chemistry courses as part of their majors, according to Joe Aldstadt, the chemistry department chair.
The current building has two towers, one for research and one for teaching. The new building is designed to be more integrated and collaborative by co-locating teaching and research. Labs will be placed behind windows instead of concrete walls, so lab work can be seen from the hallways, chemistry department officials said.
“Students can be taking a course and just one floor up or even across the hall, will be active researchers using those same techniques they’re learning about,” Aldstadt said.
The new building will have modular classrooms outfitted with up-to-date audio-visual technology to enable different types of teaching, as well as informal learning spaces throughout to encourage collaboration.
The back wall of the building will be all windows to a new, park-like green space that will replace the current chemistry building. The green space will include a small amphitheater, benches, and landscaping, according to chemistry officials.
Department of Administration (DOA) documents show that this green-space project and demolishing the existing chemistry building would cost a little over $7 million; repurposing the existing chemistry building would not be feasible. The governor deferred these UW System requests for the 2021-23 capital budget.
Chemistry officials said the new building will enhance teaching, research and outreach. In 2021, the chemistry department had 23 department publications, according to the department’s research website.
“[In the new building] People can focus on their research and not have other facility-issue-related worries because that is a disruption,” said Kevin Blackburn, the chemistry department administrator and building chair.
DOA documents show that the current building does not meet current code and UWM Facilities Services reported that it received 572 work orders last year.
As students advance in courses, they will move up the building physically. As courses go up in number, they will be held on a higher floor, Blackburn said.
The building will open to a large lobby with two large lecture halls that can also be used for events, according to Blackburn.
Aldstadt said that an often overlooked but important part of science is the space it’s done in.
“During the Enlightenment, there are so many examples where having the right facility was really the catalyst,” said Aldstadt, who teaches a course on the history of chemistry. “It wasn’t just about having the right people or right ideas, which are the most important, but integrating those people and those ideas in the right kind of environment allowed those ideas to blossom.”
Having this new teaching and research facility is expected to increase the number of faculty and staff to accommodate increased research activities, according to the pre-design release.
The release said that, in 2019, there were 116 “primary building occupants” which include faculty, staff and graduate researchers. By 2029, the proposed number will reach 164, adding five faculty and over 30 graduate researchers.
Funding has not yet been approved for the demolition of the current chemistry building or the proposed green space, according to Karen Wolfert, senior architect for UWM campus planning.
The new chemistry building, as well as a required extension of central utilities, are funded by State of Wisconsin General Fund Supported Borrowing (GFSB), which is part of the 2019-21 state capital budget, Wolfert said.
VJS Construction of Pewaukee is the general contractor, according to the UWM campus planning website.
The new building is expected to be substantially completed by December 2023, with occupancy starting throughout the Spring 2024 semester, the campus planning website says.