The grand opening ceremony for the Integrated Sciences Building will take place on Friday, Sept. 15, 2017, making it a functional part of the Kent State campus after over four years of production.

The opening ceremony will take place from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. and is open to the public.

Concept meetings for the renovations began back in 2013, where a team headed by Associate Director of Architecture and Engineering Joseph A. Graham considered what changes to make.

Discussions incorporated faculty in an attempt to satisfy as many needs as possible.

“There was lots of special equipment needed to cater to many different types of research,” Graham said. “We had lots of focus groups with professors to decide what to put in.”

One of the main concerns of the team was the concept of “science on display.” This idea materialized as the addition of glass siding so that anyone may be intrigued by what is going on inside.

Inspiration for this was taken from different universities’ buildings such as ones at Case Western University and John Carroll University.

In addition, planners also focused on the idea of peer-to-peer learning. This has been achieved through an open floor layout where students will be able to collaborate freely with one another.

“It’s what I expected. I would say it was speedy,” Graham said.  “Construction is messy though. It sounds bad, it smells bad, but hopefully we can come up with something everyone likes in the end.”

For more information about the renovations and the Integrated Sciences Building, visit https://www.kent.edu/cas/isb.

Logan Lutton is the science reporter. Contact her at [email protected].