<p>Pretty nice:</p>
<p>New FSU Chemisty Building</p>
<p>There's even a link to a webcam.</p>
<p>Here's an article about it: Southeast</a> Construction | The Chemistry of FSU's Chemistry Building</p>
<p>The completion in January of Florida State University’s new chemistry building in Tallahassee will allow FSU to expand its research and educational capabilities, as well as tap into the emerging life sciences field, one of the hottest markets in the country and a major focus of Florida politicians and other officials attempting to diversify the state’s future economy. A joint venture of Charlotte, N.C.-based BE&K Building Group and Ajax Building Corp. of Tallahassee is finishing up the $63.3 million, five-story, 168,000-sq-ft facility, which will house portions of FSU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.</p>
<p>The building will provide flexible laboratory space that can accommodate multiple disciplines in the field of life sciences research, an industry that attracts technology, research, pharmaceutical, mechanical design and other related businesses.</p>
<p>“The way you solve problems today is with a multidisciplinary approach,” says Kirby Kemper, FSU’s vice president for research. “With this building, we are trying to foster collaboration between different types of chemists, so we are mixing up labs with people who have different expertise.”The existing FSU chemistry building, which was constructed about 40 years ago, had become antiquated and crowded, says Daryl Ellison, FSU’s associate director for facilities planning and construction. Additionally, the 150,000-sq-ft building was largely dedicated to synthetic organic chemistry, which earned the university and its research scientists a reputation, and millions of dollars, for discovering cutting-edge cancer treatments.</p>
<p>However, future research is dependent upon collaboration of various disciplines, Kemper says. “Science changes at the speed of light, and today, other fields of chemistry now offer a much broader range of approaches to fighting cancer and other diseases,” he said in a press release describing the building’s focus.</p>
<p>The focus on a multidisciplinary approach has been a basic part of FSU’s vision for the project from the beginning. FSU Professor Robert A. Holton, who had discovered a synthetic version of a hugely popular cancer treatment drug, had attempted to sway the university from that vision by donating $11 million to the project and requiring a focus on his area of expertise. Ultimately, he failed, however, and FSU returned the $11 million gift and stuck to its multidisciplinary approach.</p>
<hr>
<p>Florida, through projects like the building at FSU, is concentrating on the workforce development end of the equation, hoping to attract supporting business development.</p>
<p>Indeed, the new building and its versatile potential will attract academic research-related commercial opportunities, says Russell Allen, president of BioFlorida, the state’s bioscience industry trade association that works on linking industry and academia.</p>
<p>“It definitely attracts businesses who are interested in a region because of a more highly qualified workforce and paves the way for more collaborative aspects between the university and business,” Allen says. “Technology discoveries within labs of universities also tend to create spin-out companies.”</p>
<p>Other construction projects related to life sciences are likely on the horizon for Florida as educational institutions scramble to keep up with the growing demand, he says.</p>
<p>“It would be hard for you to find a university not expanding its bioscience department,” Allen adds. “Even community colleges are enhancing their bioscience programs. They are finding they need to in order to meet the demands of the workforce and the demands of their students.”</p>
<p>Kind of reminds me of the new chemistry building at UConn, which is also reputed to be state of the art: <a href="http://playground.dailyjolt.com/%7Euconn/images/desktops/chemistry_hi.jpg%5B/url%5D">http://playground.dailyjolt.com/~uconn/images/desktops/chemistry_hi.jpg</a></p>
<p>There are similarities.</p>
<p>just thought i'd put it out there, the building is f*ing huge, everytime i leave the leach i just kinda go whoa...</p>