Campus builds to satisfy need for more labs

In response to a growing demand for training in science professions from the industry and students, Bellevue Community College plans to replace its old labs by adding a $31 million science and technology building to its campus.

Construction is expected to start Monday and be completed by fall 2008.

The college is seeing its greatest growth in science careers, especially nursing, and programs that prepare students for careers in medicine or pharmacy, said Laura Saunders, vice president of administration for Bellevue Community College.

But the campus needs more room.

"We are not able to offer any more lab classes because we don't have enough lab space," Saunders said. "Existing labs are not adequate in quantity or quality to train students for nursing, health sciences, radiological and imaging sciences."

The existing labs are spread throughout buildings on campus.

"Our current science labs are fairly outdated," said Lynne Sage, chair of the science division at Bellevue Community College. "They've been used for 35 years."

Sage said some of the older labs may be renovated for other sciences, such as physics and geology.

But any renovation of existing labs depends on state funding, Saunders said.

The three-story building will house the college's biology, botany, zoology and chemistry programs and, with 64,000 square feet, will nearly double the number of labs.

"The faculty is trying to keep the sciences current and interesting to students, and this new facility will help them do so," Sage said.

In addition to 22 classrooms and labs, the new building will have a cadaver room and an oceanography lab with aquariums visible from the hallway and the classroom.

The building will also have more space for part-time and full-time faculty and is expected to serve about 2,000 students each year — about half the number of students taking science courses at the college.

The facility will go on an existing parking lot on the east side of the B Building, also known as the Student Services Building. It will be on Landerholm Circle, near the center of the 96-acre campus, and will be the 11th instructional building on the main campus. The most recent building was completed in 2001 and houses faculty offices and classes. A large parking garage was completed in 2004.

The building's design is more contemporary than other buildings on campus, said Craig Curtis, the design partner for the building's architecture firm, Miller Hull Partnership.

"We had a couple of goals," Curtis said. "We wanted a fresh look and a place for students to hang out. There's a lot of plaza area with concrete or brick surfaces, but not a lot of green space to hang out."

The building will use dark-gray metal panels instead of the heavy concrete that is prevalent in other buildings and it will have a sloping lawn and windows with shading devices on its southwest side.

The construction staging area will cause a loss of 80 parking spaces in the lot near the college's radio station.

But there will still be space to park across the street from the building site in a parking garage, Saunders said.

Taya Flores: 206-464-3825 or tflores@seattletimes.com