The Log | School News
Construction Begins on Ocean Science Teaching Center
Construction has begun on the Duke University Marine Laboratory’s new $2.2 million Ocean Science Teaching Center.
“We’re well on our way to making this long-needed facility a reality for our students, faculty and community,” says Michael K. Orbach, director of the Marine Lab and professor of the practice in marine affairs and policy. “We signed a contract with the builder, Joyce & Associates of Carteret County, and work already has begun at the site.”
Construction should be completed by late spring of 2006, Orbach says. The 5,600-square-foot center, to be located at the point of Pivers Island, will be the first new academic building constructed on the Beaufort campus in 30 years and the Marine Lab’s first totally “green” building. Thanks to a grant from the Wallace Genetic Foundation, it has been designed to the highest standards for energy and environmental efficiency adopted by the U.S. Green Building Council.
When completed, it will greatly expand the Marine Lab’s teaching capacity and enhance its capabilities for public outreach and education. The center will house a teaching laboratory; a televideo-capable lecture hall for team teaching and distance education; interpretive educational displays; and spaces for social interactions, exhibits of marine art, and community outreach.
“We’ve just received a three-year, $160,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to outfit these areas with the latest teaching and research technologies, including a state-of-the-art televideo system for distance education,” Orbach says.
Joseph S. Ramus, research professor of biological oceanography, is the principal investigator on the NSF grant. The new center also has received its first gift of marine art, to be displayed in the commons area looking out over the Rachel Carson Estuarine Research Reserve. Michael W. Peelle T’96 has donated a free-standing bronze sculpture, Amongst the Coral, created by his grandfather, the noted Hungarian-born impressionist George Gach. The four-and-a-half-foottall sculpture depicts fish in a coral reef environment. Peelle spent a semester at the Marine Lab in 1994. Gach was one of the 20th century’s most prolific artists. He created more than 1,400 bronze sculptures and 997 paintings between 1952 and 1996. His work is displayed in museums, private collections and galleries worldwide.
The new Ocean Science Teaching Center will be named in honor of Randall Repass, chairman of West Marine Inc. of Watsonville, Calif., and his wife, Sally- Christine Rodgers, pending approval of the Duke University Board of Trustees. Last year, Repass and Rodgers gave $2.3 million to the Nicholas School to help fund the center and create a new University Professorship in Marine Conservation Technology at the Marine Lab.
In accordance with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, the center will incorporate green technologies such as solar and geothermal energy, and sustainable materials such as bamboo paneling and concrete made from fly ash.
—Tim Lucas, Nicholas School
photos of Amongst the Coral courtesy of Michael Peelle