NCCU - Mary M. Townes Science Complex

The site for the new science complex was located along on a newly acquired property that formerly housed a community high school. The main entrance of the science building is aligned with the original building of North Carolina Central University’s administration building and historic core of the campus. The façade of the new building serves as an interpretation of the high school that previously occupied the site. The “L” shape was conceived to allow for a future expansion of the sciences as the university was undergoing a significant increase in students.

This facility is designed as a multidisciplinary building for the College of Science and Technology and houses classrooms, offices, teaching and research labs for the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Earth and Geospatial Sciences, Math/Computer Science and Physics.

The new building of 120,000 Sq. Ft. is L-shaped and composed of two “wings” connected by a central student commons. The building wings are grouped with infrastructure intensive wet labs in one wing and dry areas in the other making the building more energy efficient.  The floors of the “wet” wing are designed based on the needs of the activities housed within. The first floor contains the vibration sensitive labs associated with Physics and the third houses the fume hood intense Chemistry research labs. Biology and Environmental Science are located on the second floor. Likewise, the “dry” wing is organized by locating the classrooms with the largest number of students on the lower floors and Computer Science research space on the third floor.

Photography: James West