Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Towson University Announces New Science Building

  • 11/27/17

Towson University in Towson, MD, will begin construction next summer on a $184 million building to serve its growing student body, which is enrolling in more math, engineering and science courses.

With $161 million coming from the state through 2020, it’s one of the largest higher education construction projects earmarked in Governor Larry Hogan’s FY 2017 budget. When completed in 2020, the new 316,000-square-foot structure will be between the performance venue Stephens Hall and the aging, existing 52-year-old science building at 7800 York Road, Smith Hall.

Towson University

Smith Hall lacks adequate lab and classroom space to accommodate students studying science, technology, engineering and math. When Smith Hall was built in 1964, the university had 3,537 students. Today it has 3,800 graduate and undergraduate students majoring in STEM fields alone. Its total student body population is growing as well. Towson expects to have 25,000 on-campus students by 2029, compared with 20,000 today, and requires that each student takes two science courses, regardless of major.

The university hopes that by adding 100,000 square feet, it will speed up the time it takes students to complete their degrees. The university will contribute $21 million of its own cash and start a capital campaign to raise donations and naming rights to the building.

The university plans to renovate Smith Hall to use as general classrooms and academic offices. The science building will have outdoor classrooms adjacent to Glen Arboretum, offering hands-on learning for environmental science and biology students.

It will also contain a greenhouse and a planetarium with a telescope mounted on the roof. The project was initially expected to be completed in 2019, but it was deferred for a year as the state looked to reduce its debt.

Featured

  • Round Rock ISD Completes New Early College High School

    Round Rock ISD near Austin, Texas, recently announced that construction is complete on a new, 46,500-square-foot campus for Early College High School, according to a news release. The new facility will allow the school’s students and staff to move from portables into a permanent building and increase its enrollment to 500.

  • University of Arizona Approves New Residence Hall

    The Arizona Board of Regents recently approved plans for a new residence hall at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., according to a news release. The new facility is scheduled to open in fall 2028 and have the capacity for more than 1,200 students, enforcing a new university expectation that all first-year students live on campus.

  • Houston-Area High School Breaks Ground on 117,000SF Multi-Use Facility

    North Shore Senior High School, part of Galena Park ISD in Houston, Texas, recently broke ground on a new multi-use facility for student extracurriculars, according to a news release. The North Shore Multi-Use Facility will include dedicated practice and training space for the school’s athletics and fine arts programs.

  • How a Portable Sink Helped an Art Classroom Run More Smoothly

    Classroom design decisions can have outsized effects on instructional time and safety at schools juggling mismatched infrastructure, strict budgets, and crowded schedules — particularly in the arts. Between spilled paint and dirty brushes, art classes run smoother with a sink in the studio. But many schools don’t have a sink in every art classroom.