Campus: Prairie Springs Science Center
UW – La Crosse
River Architects, in association with SmithGroup, collaborated to create a new center to accommodate the academic programs in the physical and life sciences at UW-La Crosse. The four-story building is directly adjacent to the existing Cowley Hall, which is slated to be razed to make way for Phase 2. The various labs in the new building are organized around common areas of research rather than by departmental boundaries, and support faculty-student collaboration. The programming for the first phase of this lab-focused science building includes a mix of class and research wet-bench laboratories, and support spaces for each lab type.
Multiple entrance points had to be meticulously positioned as the building has four prominent facades. Collaborative study areas were located on each floor overlooking some of the best views on campus.
