It has been just over a year since the Sidney Frank Hall for Life Sciences opened its doors to faculty and students. Despite some minor problems, most seem enthusiastic about the impact the building has had on research and campus life.
"It's a pretty nice building. There's lots of light, elevators run up and down, two bathrooms on every floor. It's luxurious in a way," said Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience James McIlwain, who has an office in the building. "Every floor has a kitchen with a refrigerator and microwave and a Xerox machine," he added.
A number of issues came up once students and faculty moved into the large, $95 million building on Meeting Street. Adjustments had to be made to fix problems with the temperature and humidity control systems, which delayed some research, McIlwain said.
File cabinets installed at graduate student work areas still must be replaced because they are too small to fit standard hanging file folders, said Paul Dietel, director of project management for Facilities Management. Acoustic engineers were called in to assess the echoing hallways that forced people to close their doors in order to get work done, McIlwain said.
The buildings' south-facing windows require darker screens to block the sun, but these have been slow in coming, McIlwain said. He made a temporary one for his office, out of a black sheet from Wal-Mart.
"These kinds of problems are not uncommon for a large research building like this," Dietel said, adding that there were never any safety concerns. "As issues arise, the team remains committed to finding solutions." Currently, the building is at 92 percent capacity, wrote Wendy Lawton, assistant director of Brown News Service, in an e-mail to The Herald. About 50 faculty members have offices and work areas and 30 of the building's 32 laboratories are currently being used for research.
A staggered move-in took place over two-and-a-half months and was overseen by Sterling Office Services, an outside contractor. "There were no problems, everything was really terrific," said Assistant Professor of Medical Science Tricia Serio, whose work was moved from J. Walter Wilson Laboratory. "We stopped experiments for less than four days."
"(Being in Sidney Frank Hall has) had a big impact on our work," Serio said, praising the technical advantages of the building. "It has made reproducibility in experiments better."
Since many of the labs are connected and equipment is shared, interaction between labs has increased, Serio said. The organization of the building and the increased storage space are also great advantages, she added.
One of the building's most underused resources is its large atrium, located just inside the entrance, which has several tables, chairs and couches for general use. Though she does not take classes or work in any of Sidney Frank Hall's laboratories, Frances Male '09 said she goes there a few times a week to study.
"It's not usually too crowded like the (Sciences Library), and during the day it's closer to my classes," Male said.
"It gives people that go to classes on Pembroke a good place to study. In comparison to other buildings it's newer and kept up to date," said Grant Garcia '08. He said the design of the atrium and the impressive spiral staircase added to the appeal.
The building is now in the final stages of receiving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, a nationally recognized rating system for environmentally friendly buildings.
