Project Design
The design of the Center for Scientific Inquiry and Innovation is described below. To see larger versions of the artist's renderings, click on the thumbnail images that accompany the text.
The Center for Scientific Inquiry and Innovation will be positioned at the southern end of the central campus, adjacent to the Madeleine Clark Wallace '34 Library and the Balfour-Hood Campus Center. The new facility will be connected to the existing science center and an extensive renovation of the center's first floor is an integral part of the overall project. The location of the CSII will provide a strong pedestrian link to the Haas Athletic Center as well as providing a new connection between the lower campus and the library.
Approaching the building from the Dimple (the quadrangle that serves as the center of the Wheaton campus), visitors will approach the main entry by walking across the facility's "green roof." This feature connects the building to the center of campus, and it serves as a highly visible symbol of the project's sustainable design, which will earn it LEED certification. An open park area between the science center and CSII will provide a new outdoor space for organized events, classes and informal gatherings.
The center will present a striking facade to those who approach it from the Haas Athletic Center, too. The tall glass windows of the building's atrium/café and the classrooms along its southwest side will look out over the wooded wetlands that border the athletic center and the adjacent fields, Mirrione Stadium and Keefe Fields. An exterior set of stairs will allow visitors to access the CSII building''s "green roof" (and the center of campus) from the athletic center.