The College of Charleston’s School of Sciences and Mathematics is a 125,000 SF teaching and research facility committed to the integration of discovery, innovation and education. Located on a prominent urban corner adjacent to the city’s historic district, the building engages its residential neighbors in scale and delivers a strong, contextual design solution for the College.

Daylight penetrates the building, brightening the interior spaces and providing faculty and students access to natural light. An interior sky-lit atrium serves as the heart of the building and flows into a courtyard reminiscent of the walled gardens commonly found in Charleston. The green space on the north side of the site is open to the building’s occupants as well as the local community.

The main challenge of the project was to develop an aesthetic that complements the scale and historic nature of the surrounding buildings while accommodating a significant amount of program on a site restricted by local codes. Using a combination of primarily brick and glass, the design remains respectful of the adjacent historic district. The east and south facades were visually broken into a series of brick “pavilions” which closely match the height, scale and character of the neighborhood fabric. Located across a major avenue from the center of the campus, the brick ties the facility into the overall architecture of the campus and reinforces the importance of the program as an integral part of the College of Charleston.