HGA Completes STEM Building at Lehigh University

Design firm HGA recently finished construction on a new STEM-oriented building for Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn. The Health | Science | Technology (HST) building is located in the northeast corner of campus and plays home to the university’s new College of Health, according to a press release. It will offer research space for public health, supports chemistry, materials science and biological science, among other subjects.

Lehigh University Health | Science | Technology Building
Photos courtesy of HGA

The five-story building offers amenities like open laboratories that can accommodate increasing and decreasing research groups. Open lab zones include wet programming for Energy & Batteries, Functional Materials & Devices, the BioHealth Initiative, and the College of Health, the news release reports. It also features shared meeting spaces, integrated work spaces, and several open areas designed to foster collaboration across disciplines and among undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff alike.

The building covers 189,000 square feet and offers easily reconfigurable workspaces, including the ability to move tables with overhead gas lines. Faculty offices are clustered together in an open office plan to create loosely defined boundaries while still allowing for collaboration.

Lehigh University Health | Science | Technology Building

Sustainability initiatives include a building sunscreen mounted along the building’s south façade to maximize natural light and visibility while minimizing glare. The building is also targeting a LEED v4 Gold Certification with an emphasis on energy and water efficiency. “The building employs numerous energy conservation measures, including an improved building envelope, chilled beams, natural-temperature supply air design, heat shift chillers, high efficiency condensing boilers, and ample natural light,” according to the news release.

Lehigh University Health | Science | Technology Building

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • University of Kansas Breaks Ground on Entrepreneurship Hub

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new KU Entrepreneurship Hub, according to university news. The Hub is part of the university’s School of Business and will include spaces for experiential learning and programming.

  • University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Launches New Emergency Communications System

    The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) recently deployed a new emergency notification and incident management system for its campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with 911Cellular to launch Safe@UTC, a smartphone app allowing university officials to communicate and respond during emergency situations.

  • 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.

  • Construction Begins on New University Research Vessel

    Boat-building company All American Marine recently announced that it has begun construction on a new catamaran research vessel for the University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) in Port Aransas, Texas, according to a news release.