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Thursday. September 28, 1972
University Daily Kansan
Flowing Lines Accent Space Building
BY SANDY HUNTER
Kanean Staff Writer
The research campus west of Iowa Street across from Daisy Hill continues to take shape. The Space Technology Center (STC) is to be dedicated Friday in a location affiliated by national and local leaders in science, industry, research and government.
The University of Kansas has been involved in a broad program of research related to the space effort and has received strong support from NASA for a number of years, according to Robert Walters, research facilities manager.
In June 1966, a proposal was submitted to NASA for a grant to build a multipurpose, interdisciplinary space technology laboratory. The grant from NASA in April 1967, the site of the largest research building of its kind in the Midwest, and the last of such structures completed in September, was dedicated in April 1968. The building was completed last September, Walters said.
HE SAID THAT in addition to the NASA funds, the Kansas Legislature approved $16,000 for furnishings, equipment and special building features.
The building plans were drawn up by Hollis and Miller, an architectural firm in Kansas City, Kan., from ideas submitted by the KU Space Committee.
Walters said, "One of the most important criteria of the building design was the aesthetics of the building, and the structure has been planned to provide an atmosphere conducive to multidisciplinary research."
When fully occupied, the 70,000-square-
foot building will house about 200 faculty members and students from most of the major University departments, including biology, social biological and physical sciences.
THE BUILDING contains three floors, housing 35 laboratories, 75 offices and two large conference-seminar rooms. Other facilities are a reading room, computer terminal, auditorium and photography laboratory.
A unique feature of the building is that it has only two entrances. At each entrance is a three-story lobby surrounded on all four sides by large glass laboratories. Overhead is a large glass dome. The expense of glass and the feeling of openness created has been compared to an atrium, the central hall of a Roman palace, the time of Julius Caesar, Walters said.
Activities on all three floors can be observed by climbing a circular stairway
FLEXIBILITY was an important consideration in the building's design, according to Walters. Laboratories are designed so that they can be easily converted from one type of operation to another. Another type of another can be moved in and the facilities can be adjusted to meet the needs of the new project.
The colorful 96-seat auditorium is the first of its kind on the KU campus. The room, decorated in shades of gold, red and brown, is equipped with a projection room, television, and multilingual facilities similar to the type used in the United Nations.
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Photos by Dan Lauing