A new home for life sciences at Penn is on track to open by 2016.

The School of Arts and Sciences is moving forward with its plan to construct a new Neural-Behavioral Sciences building, a 76,500-square-foot facility near 38th Street and University Avenue.

The University has already completed the schematic design the initial phase that identifies the size, overall program and cost estimate of the construction process, according to Principal Planner in the Office of the University Architect Mark Kocent. The $68.6 million project is currently near the end of the design development phase, which will likely be finalized within the next year, he added.

The Wistar Laboratories currently reside in one of the buildings that the NBS building will eventually displace. Due to Wistars temporary lease, the earliest that Facilities and Real Estate Services could demolish the site and begin building would be in 2014, according to FRES Executive Director of Design and Construction Mike Dausch.

Once it begins, however, construction will last about two years, giving the NBS building an initial expected occupancy date of spring 2016.

The new building will house the Psychology and Biology departments, as well as the Biological Basis of Behavior program and the Roy and Diana Vagelos Life Sciences and Management program, said Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences Richard Schultz.

We are thrilled to be moving forward with the construction of this building, which will be so important to the future of education and research in the life sciences, SAS Dean Rebecca Bushnell added in an email. It promises to be a vital hub for students and faculty who are committed to exploring new areas in the life sciences and neuroscience.

Though the Universitys design plans are not yet finalized, the NBS building is slated to feature offices, classrooms and small rooms for research labs and clinical testing, among other things. Additionally, the basement level of the site will include a 182-seat auditorium, which other departments within the University will be able to use for large lectures, Dausch said.

The academic departments within the NBS building will generally be split by floor to remain close to their respective labs, but according to Schultz the building will fulfill a dual purpose of consolidating the undergraduate experience and the faculty in the life sciences.

[Today], biology majors have no home where they can hang out, he said. Psychology is scattered all over the place, and BBB also really has no place The main objective is to have a place where Penn undergraduates who are life science majors have a place where they can relate to.

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Neural-Behavioral Sciences building set to open in 2016