Chemistry faculty and students will soon have a new home closer to other science departments, President Tilghman announced last week. The move will reshape the department to meet the demands of modern research and will help create a new science complex in the south of campus.
The new building, still in the initial planning stages, will be constructed on the current site of the Armory on Washington Road, Tilghman said at a meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community. This will move the department south from Frick Lab to a newly-created science compound that includes the physics, molecular biology and ecology and evolutionary biology departments, as well as the Frank Gehry-designed Lewis Library scheduled to open in 2007.
Along with the chemistry building, Tilghman announced the construction of a new pedestrian bridge that will span Washington Road to connect Icahn Lab, Jadwin Hall and the new chemistry building. Swiss engineer Christian Menn will show the trustees his preliminary design for the bridge next week, Vice President Bob Durkee '69 said.
Once the chemistry faculty moves out, Frick may be used to house overcrowded humanities and social science offices. Relocation plans for the Armory's current occupants, including the Princeton University Federal Credit Union and Army ROTC, are still under discussion.
The new chemistry building is a welcome change for the department, which has worked in Frick Hall since 1927.
"Frick's a lovely old building, but it can't be fixed up anymore," department chair Robert Cava said. "It's been retrofitted to the point that it looks more like a submarine than a building."
"Chemistry has changed since the 1920s," he added. "To keep up with the times, we must invest in new facilities. It's a wonderful opportunity for our department. We're all ecstatic about it."
There have been discussions about constructing a new building for more than 20 years, Cava said. In the early 1980s, Frick underwent renovations and Hoyt Laboratory was built behind Frick. The facilities still did not fully meet the department's needs, though.
"Old Frick has outlived its useful life as a chemistry building," chemistry professor John Groves said.
The old facilities deter potential students and faculty from joining the department and make offers at other universities more attractive for current faculty, department members said. "Young people want to be in a place that matches their vision for the future," Cava said. "It needs to be bright, shiny, modern. People want to live in the future, not the past."
With a new building, "we're going to be able to recruit vigorously a cohort of professors to fill that space," Groves said. "It's going to transform the chemistry department."
Beyond the benefits of modern facilities, the location of the new building will fit with the increasing integration of scientific fields, Cava said.
"The character of scientific research has evolved," he said. "There's a lot more collaborative research. The fragmentation of science is incompatible with the way modern science is done. [A science compound] will make a big difference."
This integration is particularly important for chemistry, often called the "central science," Groves said. "We used to be content just making molecules. Now we do cell biology with human cells on the compounds we make. We just treat human cells like very special beakers, very relevant beakers."
"A localized area for the sciences facilitates this kind of collaboration and interaction," Groves added. "This is a good time for chemistry."
There is only one problem with the plans, Cava said. "Hoagie Haven is up here, not down there. Where are we going to eat?"
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