Bluffton edges closer to completion of their Natural Sciences Building

Friday, May 26, 2023
By Matt Sutter, Chief Executive Officer
In Technology, Design

Bluffton University, in western Ohio, is nearing completion of a SōL Harris/Day designed innovative science lab building. This science building has the potential to serve as a prototype for small colleges and universities through out the country. The $10 million building is exclusively comprised of labs which also serve as lecture spaces for class sizes up to 24 people. Because there are minimal offices and no exclusive lecture spaces, the cost of the building is 40% less than a traditionally designed lab building. Through the design process, the registrar’s office determined that there was plenty of space on campus for large lectures. Therefore the building is designed for smaller class sizes of 24 people within the labs themselves. This creates an extremely efficient building size, which not only lowered the construction cost, but will also reduce the long term operating costs. In addition to a smaller building footprint, 90% of the chemical hoods in the building are Erlab’s high tech recirculating hoods. These hoods save 80% of energy costs compared to traditional chemical hoods. The building will house multiple chemistry, biology, physics and dietary science teaching labs as well as several research labs.

This building will be the centerpiece of a renovated campus. As a part of the science building project a road was removed through the center of campus, creating a pedestrian friendly central green. This will transform the Bluffton campus into a completely walkable campus.

Bluffton’s building is being built by Charles Construction, is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2023 and will open to students in the fall of 2023.

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