Shortly after Lawler arrived at Brown thirty-one years ago, the University began planning one, but the price tag was so huge the plans were continually deferred. Meanwhile, as the delay dragged on, ideas changed about what a new chemistry building should look like and how it should work. Other labs, such as Dartmouth's Burke Laboratory, pioneered the use of hood and bench combined into a single work space. MacMillan Hall builds on those ideas. There will be nothing like it on the same scale.
P lanning such a building is an exercise in ambition tempered by compromise.
Every major decision about MacMillan Hall was made by a planning committee. Teichert and Lawler were members, as were representatives from environmental and geological sciences, the University administration, Plant Operations, and staffs of the various architectural, engineering, and construction firms that won bids for the project. MacMillan will give each department more room, allowing its work to expand. We need maps, globes, periodic tables, rock samples. The new building will assemble all of these in one place.