SOM just completed a major design project for the Wellesley College Science Complex after a five-year construction period.

The redesigned 97,000-square-foot structure is comprised of mass timber with recycled zinc elements and involved the consolidation of several smaller academic buildings that were originally constructed on the Science Hill portion of the campus between the 1920s and late1970s.

“We reimagined the science center as a village for teaching, learning, and research,” SOM Design Partner Colin Koop said in a press release. “The project is a careful mix of removal, renovation, and addition that will give students and faculty a more inviting and engaging experience.”

For the renovation portion of the project, SOM focused on the L-wing, a Perry, Dean, Stahl, and Rogers-designed addition to the older Neo-Gothic Sage Hall that was first enacted in 1977 and provided an ideal space for transformation.

SOM’s team converted the structure’s 200-foot-long hallway into a “whiteboard alley” while adding both an exterior suspended terrace and multi-story interior atrium called the Focus that was installed in a new enclosed space between the modernist building and later Sage Hall. SOM retained one facade of the then-demolished brick structure to be integrated into the new space; in the process, creating what they say creates an “interplay between old and new.”

The new structure is essentially a series of pavilions rendered in zinc and ship-lapped panels and connected by the Chao Foundation Innovation Hub. The mass timber interior includes a “cascade” of double- and triple-height classroom and laboratory spaces with breakout rooms that offer a view of the campus and surrounding scenery.

Overall, the project will help Wellesley towards its 2040 carbon neutrality goals. The project has garnered a LEED Platinum certification. In a press statement, Wellesley's President Paula A. Johnson said: “The new Science Complex will allow us to strengthen our commitment to educating the next generation of inclusive STEM leaders by creating a collaborative hub for teaching and research where students, faculty, and staff can discover and learn together.”