Construction is underway on the Robert Day Sciences Center, which will foster transparent and dynamic interaction among faculty, staff, and experts, and across disciplines and applied research and learning opportunities. The unique design, conceived by renowned architects of BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, will make the scientific process visible to students by offering views into classrooms and research spaces from a soaring central atrium at all levels.

At a current estimate of 142,000 square feet, the center was designed with adaptable and reconfigurable spaces to create hands-on learning environments and emphasize the integration of computation and data analytics in the sciences.

The current “hashtag” design was inspired by the way the college is reorienting science education. Each individual volume is expressed as a triangulated truss facade on the building’s long edges, with a  floor to ceiling glass facade on its shorter sides. The continual rotation of each floor creates a structural series of large-scale girders resting on top of one another, forming a vertical atrium space at the heart of the building. The stacking design creates a series of indoor terraces, illuminated by natural light, overlooking the atrium on all floors, and eight outdoor terraces with mountain views to the north.

Background
The Center honors Robert Day ’65 P’12, CMC alumnus and 52-year trustee and is made possible by gifts from the W.M. Keck Foundation and two foundations affiliated with the Day family.

In remarks during the ceremony, Day reflected on the importance of integrated sciences to solve current global challenges and expressed confidence in CMC’s roadmap. “This is very significant, not just as a building,” Day said, “but also as a program.”

Participants were able to tour the bulldozed and fenced-off area, with materials and construction equipment waiting. Planned completion is targeted for fall of 2024.