Bethesda-based Miller & Long Co., Inc., served as the general contractor for Montgomery College’s new 145,000 square foot academic science building. Known as “The Academic Cornerstone of the College’s Hercules Pinkney Life Sciences Park,” the Bioscience Education Center at Montgomery College boasts an impressive array of exposed cast-in-place concrete, tiered retaining walls and a series of “bioretention areas” for collecting rain water and surface runoff for non-potable repurposing and plant life around the campus. The state-of-the-art bioscience center includes 25 wet laboratories; a science learning center; a detached greenhouse complex; 48 faculty offices; a 4,115-square-foot conference center; and five break-out rooms.
According to Montgomery College, “The building represents an $87.9 million investment in STEM education and workforce development.” Some of the highlights of the architecturally intensive 6,500 cubic yard project are the curved, exposed retaining walls in four different bioretention areas and triple white concrete piers supporting the structural steel column supports for the cantilevered metal entryway.
“We are not your average college, and this is not your average bioscience education building,” said Dr. Collins R. Jones, professor of biotechnology. “This building has greatly surpassed our expectations.”