Cornell College

Russell Science Center

Cornell College Russell Science Center
Cornell College Russell Science Center
Students learning in an anatomy lab with wood frame casework.
Exterior dusk view of Russell Science Center from the southwest.
A daylit second floor lounge that offers expansive views to the historic campus.
Cornell College Russell Science Center
Cornell College Russell Science Center
Exterior dusk view of Russell Science Center from the northwest.
An open study area located in a classroom corridor, with two-story windows.
Students seated for a lecture in a biology classroom.
An open third floor lounge with brightly colored furniture and whiteboard workspace.
A wood panel donor wall mounted outside of a classroom that honors the Science Facilities Campaign.
Cornell College Russell Science Center
A series of colored floor plan diagrams for Cornell's Russell Science Center.

Cornell College

Russell Science Center

Mount Vernon, Iowa

Driven by the vision to expand and develop a STEM program capable of rivaling its Midwestern peer colleges and attracting the brightest minds to campus, Cornell College worked with BWBR to study renovation options for West Science Hall. BWBR’s collaborative planning process identified that a new stand-alone science building and remodeling in the existing building would both fit within the project goals and budget, thus leading to the first new academic building on the Cornell campus in approximately 40 years.

The new Russell Science Center is sited adjacent to the existing West Science Hall, allowing the science programs to remain physically close while expanding capabilities in research and teaching. Laboratories for the Biology and Chemistry departments are designed to flex between labs and lectures, and hood- and chemical-intensive lab courses feature adjacent classrooms to ease the flow between course functions. Student/faculty lounges are nearby to complement the classrooms and laboratories, providing areas of respite, collaboration, and informal learning for students who spend all day in the same class in Cornell’s unique one-course-at-a-time block format.

The second phase of renovations to West Science Hall brings the science departments up to date.

Size: 50,000 sq. ft.

Components: 15 labs, four classrooms, 20 offices, three enclosed group rooms, and five collaboration spaces

Completion: 2018

News & Views: Converting an Existing Campus Building into a Modern Science Lab

Stephanie McDaniel
Dan Hottinger
Craig Peterson
Chris Fischer
Ken Frey (retired)
Allen Hoglund (retired)
Hanna Kuehl
Brian Lapham
Joe Mueller (retired)