Spring Break
Plans for Linus Pauling Center fall flat
Theo Hendrickson
Issue date: 5/29/09 Section: News
The Corvallis Historic Resource Commission recently rejected OSU's plans to build a new Linus Pauling Science Center.
The CHRC defines a building as historic when "historic resources located within its boundaries contribute to the unique character of the community and merit preservation."
The new Linus Pauling Science Center is described as a state-of-the-art science facility that would provide support to associated research and education programs, and it would create faculty positions and student scholarships. The 120,000-square-foot structure didn't comply with the CHRC's requirements for consistency in the area due to design and placement issues.
"There were some things that were historically compatible, but there were also some aspects of the design that the HRC didn't believe were consistent with the surrounding historic resources," said Bob Richardson, city of Corvallis associate planner.
The location of the building would be on the corner of Southwest 30th Street and Southwest Campus Way. The main issues that the HRC found were problems with the closeness of the building to the south side of 30th Street, the scale and mass of the building itself, the location of entrances, and the loading dock, which would be too big and would reduce consistency with the surrounding buildings.
The building itself would cost $62.5 million, which would make it the most expensive academic facility built at OSU. However, due to the delay, the College of Science and the Linus Pauling Institute are paying $81,000 a month in interest for the construction loans.
According to a statement by OSU, "the new Linus Pauling Science Center will bring all of the institute's principal investigators into one facility for the first time, providing room for the institute to grow and promoting increased collaboration among OSU researchers, especially in chemistry and biochemistry."
OSU put in an appeal to the city council and had a closed public hearing on May 18. Deliberation will take place on June 2, and the decision will be made as to whether the university may begin construction.
The CHRC defines a building as historic when "historic resources located within its boundaries contribute to the unique character of the community and merit preservation."
The new Linus Pauling Science Center is described as a state-of-the-art science facility that would provide support to associated research and education programs, and it would create faculty positions and student scholarships. The 120,000-square-foot structure didn't comply with the CHRC's requirements for consistency in the area due to design and placement issues.
"There were some things that were historically compatible, but there were also some aspects of the design that the HRC didn't believe were consistent with the surrounding historic resources," said Bob Richardson, city of Corvallis associate planner.
The location of the building would be on the corner of Southwest 30th Street and Southwest Campus Way. The main issues that the HRC found were problems with the closeness of the building to the south side of 30th Street, the scale and mass of the building itself, the location of entrances, and the loading dock, which would be too big and would reduce consistency with the surrounding buildings.
The building itself would cost $62.5 million, which would make it the most expensive academic facility built at OSU. However, due to the delay, the College of Science and the Linus Pauling Institute are paying $81,000 a month in interest for the construction loans.
According to a statement by OSU, "the new Linus Pauling Science Center will bring all of the institute's principal investigators into one facility for the first time, providing room for the institute to grow and promoting increased collaboration among OSU researchers, especially in chemistry and biochemistry."
OSU put in an appeal to the city council and had a closed public hearing on May 18. Deliberation will take place on June 2, and the decision will be made as to whether the university may begin construction.
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Russell Hendrickson
posted 5/29/09 @ 9:33 AM PST
I've known about Linus Pauling for year, but never knew about the OSU connection. How many Novel Peace Prize winners does OSU have? Why isn't a bigger deal made about it?
Very upset
posted 5/29/09 @ 6:46 PM PST
This is a travesty in the greatest sense of the word. The Linus Pauling Institute is one of the premier disease research institutes in the world and we are lucky enough to have scientists of that caliber on our campus - but they are not able to work together to their full potential because their building doesn't look right? None of the buildings in that area "match" visually, some are very new and beautiful and some are very run-down and old. (Continued…)
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