Facilities need to support serendipity, to have spaces spread throughout where spontaneity can be exploited on the spot through informal discussion with peers, using a computer in a common study hall, or doing late-night laboratory teamwork. Colleges need space for science that will support a blend of teaching styles linked more tightly to the laboratory, space for student and faculty research, space that encourages interdisciplinary uses of major instrumentation, and classrooms wired for multimedia presentations and computing. Science and mathematics are increasingly social, as opposed to solitary, activities. Our buildings must reflect the social character of science and mathematics by providing spaces for exchanges among students and faculty. T o emend an aphorism of Louis Kahn, we might describe laboratories as buildings that both serve and are served by science.
Laboratories are both a means to advance science and the product of modern technology.
With certain restrictions, the science building should be accessible and useful to students after normal business hours. Of course safety and security matters have to be considered, but having the department's own majors around the building usually means less rather than more mischief. Students will be attracted by such amenities as carrels where they can work and leave their books, scientific instruments, tutoring sessions, computers and printers, a telephone, a coffee pot and pop machine. They will make good use of research laboratories, science libraries, a general purpose room where homework, test answers, class references, reference books, models, and slides are stored. This type of environment develops a learning community and pays rich dividends in learning, persistence, and recruitment of students into science.