University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

School for Marine Science and Technology Research Building

New Bedford, Massachusetts

Size
60,000 gsf new
32,500 gsf renovations

Services
Feasibility Study
Programming
Lab Planning
Architecture

Certifications
LEED Silver

The expansion of the School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) with the construction of a new building consolidates the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s Marine Science research and teaching program on this satellite campus. The new building supports the SMAST research mission with flexible wet, dry, and computational laboratories, meeting and interaction space, along with faculty and graduate student offices. In addition, the building accommodates the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) South Coast operations, facilitating continuing collaborations between SMAST and DMF in support of sustainable fisheries.

The building includes highly specialized research labs to support interdisciplinary research in Biochemical Cycling, Marine and Coastal Computational Modeling, Fisheries Science, Marine Renewable Energy, Ocean Observing/Sensing, and Ocean Physics. They include a seawater facility with holding tanks for marine organism research and large flume research tank; a supercomputer server cluster for climate and oceanographic computational modeling, and high-bay storage to support fabrication and staging of ocean-going experimental equipment.

The ground floor includes teaching labs, a large classroom used for both academic and community programs, a public commons, and the DMF’s public fishing licensing office.

The oceans play a key role in our coastal economy and way of life, and are undergoing dramatic changes related to climate and human activity. By bringing our faculty, students and staff together with our partners at the Division of Marine Fisheries, we better position the University, Commonwealth and region to understand and respond to these changes.

Steven Lohrenz

Dean of the School for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

In keeping with the SMAST environmental research mission and its coastal location, sustainability, energy conservation, and resiliency were programmed into every aspect of the building design. Features include rain screen envelope design, right-sized systems, low-flow fume hoods, energy recovery and hydronic cooling and heating systems, hurricane-resistant envelope design, mechanical and electrical systems located at ground level and above, and managed shutdown and hibernation modes for critical research systems.