Biography

The Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies is a research facility at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The 218,000-square-foot (20,300 m2) building is located on 15th street between RPI’s Playhouse and Academy Hall, next to the Center for Industrial Innovation.

Ground was broken on May 17, 2002 for the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies as part of the Rensselaer Plan, a $400 million campus improvement project. Much of the plan was made possible by a $130 million anonymous donation in December 2000 Construction lasted through September 2004 when the building officially opened. However, researchers did not begin to use the new facilities until well into the fall 2004 semester.

Early in 2001, Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann of Butler, Pennsylvania and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania were chosen by Rensselaer as the architecture firms to handle the design of the structure. Board chairman of Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates, Richard Rittelmann who obtained an architecture degree from RPI in 1960, was chosen to lead the project. Rittelmann was chosen for the project as his firm was a national leader in the design of research and biotechnology buildings.

At 218,000 square feet (20,250 m²), the Biotechnology Center is the 3rd largest building on RPI’s campus. It contains office space for 400 researchers and over 71,500 square feet (6,600 m²) of laboratory space. To encourage collaboration among researchers, the Biotechnology Center also features 5,830 square feet (540 m²) of seminar space and 5,200 square feet (480 m²) of auditorium and gallery space. Part of this space includes the Bruggeman Conference Center, a 150-seat wired auditorium located on the southwest corner of the building.

The Biotechnology Center contains three different types of laboratory spaces to complement each other. The three types are Research, Support and Core Laboratories. Research Laboratories are designed to be flexible. These laboratories were designed in a way so they could be used for almost any type of research activities. Support Laboratories are less flexible than the Research Laboratories but contain special equipment such as a mass spectrometer. Core Laboratories often contain special equipment not available anywhere else in the facility.