Oberlin College
Science Center

Oberlin was recognized as a premier “arts focused” liberal arts college. A primary goal for the project was to upgrade the sciences and integrate them into the liberal arts experience. The new facility successfully transformed the sciences and the campus.

Oberlin’s existing science facility, the 1960s Kettering Science Building, created a 330-foot-long barrier (“The Great Wall of Science”) along a heavily traveled vehicular and pedestrian street (West Lorain), essentially cutting off the north part of campus. This separation of the sciences from the campus core created both a physical and intellectual schism.

The new Center removed the east half of Kettering Hall and implemented a three phase plan comprising 150,000 square feet of new construction and 80,000 square feet of renovation to create a new science quadrangle. The new lawn flows across West Lorain Street to Wilder Bowl (the primary campus open space) reconnecting the sciences to the academic core.