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The Millennium Science Complex

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A New Facility for 21st Century Science

The convergence of engineering, physical science, and life sciences, augmented by high-speed computation and data search, is opening new frontiers in human health, energy, and materials science. At Penn State, this convergence has a new home in the Millennium Science Complex, a 275,600 square-foot science building housing two of the University's premier research organizations - the Materials Research Institute and The Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences.

More than just a collection of laboratories and instruments, the MSC embodies a new style of research, in which experts from many disciplines coordinate their technologies and knowledge in ways that produce exponential advances. By providing the research space and the opportunity for intellectual exchanges, both formal and informal, the MSC is expected to generate large returns on the University's investment in infrastructure.

Designed by internationally renowned architect Rafael Vinoly, the MSC is one of the nation's first buildings specifically constructed to support the integration of the physical and life sciences. Instruments for the characterization of organic and inorganic materials will be co-located in a vibration-free quiet space, part of 50,000 net square feet of user facilities dedicated to current and future generations of characterization and fabrication tools. Shared meeting and common areas are designed to encourage the free exchange of ideas that existed in the great corporate labs that defined physical science and engineering in the 20th century.

• Basement - ~20,000 ultra low vibration space for high definition characterization
• First Floor - 10,000 SF (+6000 SF Subfab) cleanroom facilities, molecular beam epitaxy, thin films, shared furnaces
• Second Floor - Optical materials, electronic materials, surface science, biomaterials, nanomaterials
• Third Floor - electroactive and optical polymers

More About the Building

The Millennium Science Complex is a four-level steel structure constructed on micropiles, clad in pre-cast, curtain wall and metal panels. One of the building's signature features is a 150-foot cantilever at the main entrance. The cantilever includes an opening in the roof to allow sun to reach the garden plaza beneath. Green roofs will reduce storm water runoff, enhance energy efficiency, and aid in achieving LEED® certification.

The L-shaped facility consists of a western Life Sciences II wing housing the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and a northern materials science wing housing the Materials Research Institute. Each wing is approximately 550 feet long by 110 feet wide. The roof steps back 110 feet at every level.

The steel fabrication and construction was handled by Kinsley Manufacturing, York, PA. 4,200 tons of steel were used in the construction. The erection of the steel required 22,000 hours of labor, four cranes and, at peak, 75 iron workers. Due to the massive size of these members some of the field welds took as long as three 10-hour days to complete one weld.

"The materials research program will provide clean room space and user facilities with several state-of-the-art characterization and fabrication tools housed in a quiet space with low acoustic and electromagnetic noise, suitable for future generations of image analysis instruments. This quiet space is structurally isolated from the rest of the building and situated on 24-inch-thick slabs on grade at the intersection of the two wings to meet strict vibration criteria. Each wing of the building cantilevers 154 feet over the quiet room space to avoid transmitting vibrations from building columns. In addition, typical bay sizes were restricted to 22 feet by 22 feet to achieve better vibration performance.

Located at the heart of Penn State's University Park campus, this new facility will provide a central location for faculty and students involved in materials research to collaborate across departmental boundaries." (Source Thornton Tomasetti, engineering design for the MSC)

Architect: Rafael Viñoly Architects - Designed as a gateway to the university's science and research corridor.

Construction: Whiting-Turner Contracting Company

Construction start: July 2008

Completion: Summer 2011

Location: Intersection of Bigler and Pollock Roads