Students, professors and researchers at the University of Wisconsin will soon be able to reap the benefits of a newly renovated Biochemistry complex on campus, set to open to its doors in the coming weeks.
The $112 million renovations, a part of the Biochemistry Phase II project, were a response to the age of much of the complex that was deemed unsuitable for research, as well as a need for new instructional facilities and research space, according to UW biochemistry professor Michael Cox.
“As everyone will see, the new renovation has been quite thorough,” Cox said. “It is really a new building, and I think everyone who uses it will enjoy the experience.”
The exterior of the old Biochemistry building and the old Agricultural Journalism building were completely preserved, and the interior of the buildings were revamped along with a six-story tower addition for research, Facilities Planning and Management Project Manager Peter Heaslett said.
Cox added the architects were careful to maintain the historic feel of the buildings. He said care was taken to save the historic murals painted by John Stewart Curry during the Great Depression.
He said once completed, the complex will consist of three buildings including the 1998 Biochemistry Phase I project called the Biochemistry addition, Biochemical Sciences and the Biochemistry building.
The new Biochemistry building will include three new classrooms, new instructional laboratories, some computerized classrooms, an undergraduate lounge with office space for undergraduate biochemistry student organizations and a new student services office complex.
“The teaching facilities are first rate, and I think all of the students will enjoy using them,” Cox said. “The undergraduate lounge is designed to give our undergraduate majors a real home for the first time.”
Additionally, the renovated building will house a new office for the biomolecular chemistry department, Cox said.
Heaslett said the biomolecular chemistry department is relocating from the Medical Sciences Center to be side by side with the biochemistry department.
“Having these two departments together should spark some collaboration that wasn’t possible where they were before,” Heaslett said.
Research has been centered in the biochemical building, which now contains a new complex of meeting rooms suitable for hosting mini-symposia, a new space to house approximately 20 research programs, a wide variety of computational and other research support spaces and a coffee house, Cox said.
Cox said he believes these renovations will greatly benefit researchers because the building is changing from an unsuitable space to a state-of-the-art facility. The complex will not only supply space for research programs but also a place to foster collaboration and discussion about research.
The biochemistry department has a respected history in major research projects, as well as assisting in funding UW research.
