The University of Wyoming’s new 126,000 SF Science Initiative Building provides innovative spaces for faculty, research staff, and graduate students to conduct their studies. The University’s objective is to rise to top-tier status in the nation through the supporting systems designed to distinguish their core science programs, which include Botany, Zoology & Physiology, Molecular Biology, Chemistry, and Physics & Astronomy.
The classrooms and meeting areas are comprised of one or more flat panel display systems that are visible from various seating arrangements. The Center for Advanced Scientific Instrumentation Showcase contains imaging workstations that are connected to flat panel displays at the front of the room to display their research to other classmates and faculty. Throughout the lobby of the building, there are video walls that display live footage from the research labs, content created by researchers, or university news.
A key space in the building is a 200-seat active learning classroom. The classroom is set up for activity-based learning with display systems around the room, a seating arrangement of ten students per table, and an audio and speech reinforcement system. The system automatically picks up on voices and magnifies the sound around the room ensuring everyone can hear what is being said, helps reduce the overall noise in an activity-based learning environment, and reduces students’ hesitancy to speak up during class.
The facility contains additional spaces that support all of the school’s science disciplines and practices. These spaces include four active learning classrooms, multiple small group breakout rooms, and meeting spaces.
To avoid disruptive background noise in the classrooms, detailed acoustical analysis was performed, including the mechanical system and sound isolation between adjacent spaces.
