Reimagining chemistry education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee has turned the conventional model of chemistry education on its head with the design of its new Chemistry Building.
The mid-century college campus was originally designed with science labs and learning spaces in isolation, creating focused but disconnected environments. This model was effective for concentrated experimentation but didn’t foster the cross-disciplinary discovery and community spirit needed for today's chemistry advancements. To empower students and researchers to develop solutions to our most critical challenges, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (UW-M) knew they needed to rethink the spaces where scientific learning and innovation collide.
We partnered with UW-M to do just that with its new Chemistry Building. As an R1 research university — as classified in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education — the university challenged our design team to break away from traditional science building design to embrace a framework that blurs the line between education and discovery. Designed in partnership with Kahler Slater, the cutting-edge facility highlights the importance of transparency in the learning environment and showcases spaces that encourage curiosity and collaboration among students, educators and industry partners.
With rising demand for STEM professionals and chemistry-driven solutions, the building redefines how chemistry is taught, studied and shared — now and for future generations.
Connectivity in form and function
The building’s planning and design process began with an in-depth study of the research areas and academic programs offered by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. The process informed the development of a lab-focused building built for efficiency and based on two driving tenets: providing connectivity on all floors between learning and research and creating an adaptable environment that responds to the dynamic diversity of scientific teams.
These design drivers intentionally brought together research and teaching labs on floors with nearby faculty offices to make teamwork between students and researchers easier, symbolically aligning with the way proteins fold. The plan also carefully coordinated the scientific needs by combining open labs with specialized support spaces that efficiently meet functional needs while adapting to changes in team sizes and equipment upgrades.
The building includes another design feature that emphasizes connectivity in a way you do not often see in a university chemistry building. Located on the third floor, the Glass Shop for Scientific Research is home to a full-time glassblower who crafts custom glass vessels. The shop serves as a vital hub for both teaching and research, providing students, faculty, and researchers with the bespoke resources needed to advance chemistry research. It is intentionally designed to be open and accessible, allowing visibility that not only celebrates the intricate art of glassblowing but also invites the campus community to engage with the process.
Campus and community integration
With chemistry being a foundational prerequisite for several programs on campus — such as engineering, environmental and freshwater sciences, forensics, nursing and medical technology — more than 3,500 students take chemistry or biochemistry classes at UWM each year. This was a significant driver in positioning this building to be the central hub of the STEM quad, linking all existing buildings and future developments to create a cohesive environment in the southwest corner of campus.
This integrated approach extends beyond the campus to foster connection with the surrounding community. Located on the ground floor of the building and directly facing the quad interior, the Outreach Lab is a space primarily dedicated to training Milwaukee’s current and future educators. It focuses on developing science curriculum for middle and high school teachers, teaching them new methods to engage and excite students in STEM. It also serves as an overflow lab for various university departments and tours, making it a highly public-facing space that creates several connection points.
Dynamic industry collaboration
As Wisconsin is home to some of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, UW-M is heavily involved in partnerships and initiatives aimed at advancing chemistry research. This was a key factor in the lab planning and design of the chemistry building.
The building features a clever clustering of research labs, integrated specialty facilities and dedicated spaces for partnerships and startup labs. These spaces promote a dynamic and collaborative environment, allowing external industry and community partners to move between open lab areas and share resources such as tissue culture rooms, microscopy rooms and specialized equipment. This design element ensures diverse research activities are well-supported in adjacent spaces rather than in siloed rooms.
An especially unique space is the Kilo Lab, which is instrumental in helping researchers to translate discovery to practical industry applications. It’s one of several thoughtfully designed labs that provide faculty and industry partners with the space and tools needed to develop proof-of-concept experiments. Importantly, the transparency of these spaces makes science feel accessible and engaging to everyone who enters the building — a testament to the power of design to demystify chemistry learning and teaching.
Re-designing chemistry culture and community
STEM hubs are becoming campus destinations that help students feel connected to both the academic and social campus cultures. One way to foster belonging in these types of academic buildings is to create “sticky” in-between spaces. These spaces, often referred to as third spaces, are designed to create spontaneous interactions, serving as drivers of culture and offering a "home" environment for the science community.
Structured to support individual respite or group study, many third spaces are located directly outside of labs to encourage students to use them between classes. While these areas offer a range of flexibility and choice that make the building unique, they represent a developing trend. Most institutions don’t currently have a defined framework for incorporating third spaces into standardized building programs, so each implementation is customized for the particular building.
To make this possible in the chemistry building, we departed from the traditional method of designing science buildings that use a repetitive, factory-like structure. Instead, we organized the modular lab neighborhoods around the simplified structure to create third spaces for learning, gathering and focus outside the classroom environment.
This new framework at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's chemistry building is not just a testament to architectural innovation but also a bold statement about the future of science education. It embodies the belief that transparency, community integration and a diversity of collaborative spaces are essential for nurturing the next generation of scientists and researchers.
