Whitworth University says it plans to start work next year on a $37 million science center that will be the first phase of a planned $53 million overhaul of its science facilities.


The three-story, 63,000-square-foot science center will be the most expensive building in Whitworths history and will be located on the north end of its North Side campus, where its art building sits, says spokesman Greg Orwig. Construction is expected to start in late spring 2009 and to be completed by fall 2010, he says.


Whitworth recently awarded a contract with a maximum allowable construction cost of $24 million to Spokane-based Bouten Construction Co. for the project, Orwig says. A final contract cost will be determined in early 2009. The $37 million figure includes various other costs such as architectural fees, taxes, furnishings, and equipment, he says. Seattle-based Miller Hull Partnership LLP designed the building.


The new science center primarily will house Whitworths biology and chemistry departments, and will include laboratory space, classrooms, and faculty offices, Orwig says. Some classrooms will have the wiring and plumbing necessary to be converted into laboratories if the need arises, he says.


Whitworths biology, chemistry, and physics departments currently are housed in the 38,000-square-foot Eric Johnston Science Center, located just east of the site for the new science building. The Johnston Center opened in 1967 and was renovated most recently in the 1998-1999 school year, when it underwent roughly $2 million in upgrades, Orwig says.


The physics department and some biology-related activities will remain in the Johnston Center after the new building is completed, he says. The math and computer science departments, which currently are housed elsewhere on campus, will move into the vacated space in the Johnston Center, he says.


Currently, Whitworth is building a new visual-arts center to the north of the current art building. That $7.1 million project is expected to wrap up this summer, Orwig says. The art department then will move into that new building, and the English department will move into the art building while its facility undergoes remodeling work, he says. After the English department moves back into its building, the art building will be torn down to make way for the new science center.


After the new science center building is completed, Whitworth plans to start work on the estimated $16 million second phase of the science facilities project, Orwig says. That phase will involve building a 16,000-square-foot addition to the north end of the Johnston Center and remodeling the rest of the building. The project also might include building an elevated walkway that would connect the new science building to the planned addition to the Johnston Center, he says. Plans for the second phase still are in the preliminary stages, but its expected to be completed in 2011.


Whitworth is expanding its science facilities partly because enrollment growth in its science programs in recent years has put significant demands on its science infrastructure, Orwig says. The number of science majors at the university has doubled in the last decade.


Last year, Whitworth had a total of 251 biology, chemistry, and physics majors, he says.


That growth coincides with a continued rise in Whitworths overall enrollment, which climbed to 2,607 last fall, up from 2,504 students a year earlier.


Whitworth also is updating its science facilities to keep up with competing schools, which all have built new science facilities within the last decade, Orwig says.


We know we need to offer comparable, competitive facilities to continue attracting the caliber of student that were looking for, he says.


Whitworth will pay for the project through a combination of donations and a bond issue, he says. It hasnt named the new science center yet.


Meanwhile, as reported earlier, the private, Presbyterian Church-affiliated school also plans to build a nearly $12 million residence hall on the east side of its 200-acre campus. That project is expected to start soon and to be completed by fall 2009.


The next major capital project Whitworth plans to pursue after the science center is a new performing arts center, but that still is a ways into the future, Orwig says.


Contact Emily Proffitt at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyp@spokanejournal.com.