Princeton University plans to build a new Quantum Insitute for Quantum Science
& Engineering facility that will be part of the Stadium neighborhood.
University professionals presented the concept plan for the planned facilities to the Princeton Planning Board on Feb. 15.
“The project is both Quantum and the School of Engineering. A total of three buildings submitted for the concept design is 467,000 square feet,” Princeton University architect Ron McCoy said.
“The Quantum Science building is a little bit bigger [in the concept plan] drawings … it is around 225,000 square feet.”
The proposed project site for the Quantum Insitute and Engineering facilities is between Fitzrandolph Road, Ivy Lane and Stadium Drive.
Across Ivy Lane, the new facilities would be next to the university’s new Environmental Studies and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which is currently under construction.
The facilities which are proposed adjacent to Roberts Stadium, Campbell Field and Finney Field will contain three buildings that are to be connected and include a basement level.
The Quantum Institute for Quantum Science, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering programs will each be in one of the three connected buildings.
Aerial view looking Southwest
“We are designing this project I think as the first generation of projects that are particularly mindful of the new stormwater regulations[of] the 2100-year rainfall,” McCoy said.
“You will see a lot of roofs colored in green indicating there will be green roofs and the landscape throughout the site will be designed to comply with the recently adopted zoning regulations with green infrastructure and onsite retention of rainwater and stormwater basins.”
McCoy explained that the university is interested in incorporating the green roofs with solar panels, so the buildings would be both solar ready and have green roofs.
With access from Stadium Drive there is a primary loading dock for all three buildings on the southwest corner of the site next to the designated Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering building.
A smaller loading dock is at the southwest corner of the Quantum Institute for Quantum Science building for quantum deliveries.
“Most of the building is a three-story mass and that three story steps down consistently around the perimeter to the scale down to the neighboring context,” McCoy added. “The entire complex will be joined below ground by a service corridor, but also at levels two and three. It is fully connected at levels two and three with the bridge connections.”
The university is proposing a geo-exchange field below the basement level of the buildings and landscape of the facilities project, according to concept plan documents. The geo-exchange system for the university exchanges heat and helps energy efficiency all year round.
“Our strategy is that the entire site will be used for geo-exchange,” McCoy said, noting they have not laid out the actual grid of the geo-exchange wells. “There will be some sensitivity to vibrations relative to some of the quantum labs. The entire site will be utilized to achieve our carbon neutrality goal.”
The university plans to use advanced sound techniques to reduce the noise impact from drilling.
Regarding parking, Stadium garage was designed and sized for the campus growth, according to McCoy.
“We did not know it was quantum [that] was going to be the growth, but we knew the campus was going to grow,” he said. “We will submit a site and traffic report with the site plan application to verify our assumptions.”
The new three building facility is estimated to have about 760 occupants and the project is designed to accommodate growth to 2042, when the university expects an additional 420 people, according to McCoy.
The existing site for the proposed Quantum Insitute for Quantum Science & Engineering facility is currently the home for the university’s baseball field (Clarke Field) and softball field (Strubing Field).
The fields are going to be relocated to the university’s Meadows Neighborhood in West Windsor Township.