Shaun Pothin '04

The designs for the Science, Math and Technology center (SMT) received a 2002 Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum. The architects of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, who designed the SMT center, entered an elite pool of applicants from across the country by submitting the design plans for their structure. Only 41 buildings nationwide have received this distinguished award. The award is given annually to recognize excellence in architecture in the United States.

Meanwhile, the first phase of the SMT center project was put into action at the close of the fall term with the preparation of a site for modular units. The modular units will act as temporary classrooms during the 20-month SMT construction period, roughly from April 2003 to May 2005. The site, which is behind John Louis Dormitory on Chapin Field, has been cleared, and construction of the modular units will finish in April, 2003.

The companies that build these units are also responsible for building on-site labs for oil companies. Williams-Scotsman is a company that specializes in mobile office and modular building. Their homepage www.willscot.com has images of the types of buildings that will be added to Chapin Field by this spring.

Dean of the Faculty Richard Bonanno said of the modular units, "People will be surprised at how attractive they look... If you were to look at [them] without knowing they were modular structures, you wouldn't know they were built from pieces."

The current science building will be torn down as early as possible this summer. This process will last for about three months, and there will be a web-cam to transmit images of the science center's demolition over the internet. Students will be notified when this site is available.