Constantine Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building

A New Intellectual Campus Crossroads

The five-story, 128,000 square foot Constantine Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building will become a crossroads at Drexel University where students and faculty from numerous scientific disciplines converge, creating an incubator for inquiry, discussions and research. The structure will include thirty-nine research and teaching labs, a 258-seat auditorium, classrooms, faculty offices, and conference rooms as well as areas for student study and informal discussions. The design is environmentally sensitive and it will become Drexel’s first Silver LEED certified building from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Upon entering the building, guests will encounter a four-story Bio Wall, the first of its kind at an American university. The Bio Wall is a living wall of plants in a hypotonic environment. The bacteria growing on the plants cleans the air by capturing particles and degrading the volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In a groundbreaking study, Environmental and Civil Engineering and Biology students will come together to examine the wall’s effect on the interior atmosphere and its potential health benefits for commercial and academic applications.

The upper floors will contain the core of the building where students and faculty will engage in both research and instruction along with comfortable study lounges forming a network of collaborative spaces. With its accompanying lecture facilities, the University will be able to host conferences and colloquia of national and international academic significance, as well as receptions, dinners, and public events within a signature campus locale. Its spacious, state-of- the-art auditorium will be the site of scholarly panel presentations and guest lecturers, featuring leading minds in biology, the life sciences, ecology and environmental sciences engaging in stimulating discourse on contemporary ideas, issues and discoveries.