Last week, the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences opened up its new Animal, Veterinary, and Biomedical Sciences Building. This $98.5 million dollar, 105,000-square-foot facility replaced the old Henning Building that formerly stood in the same space.

Let’s take a look around this brand new building, which houses research labs, instructional spaces, and offices for the Department of Animal Science and the Department of Veterinary, and Biomedical Sciences.

The centerpiece of the property is the “lucky” Japanese Red Pine. This tree is the largest of its species in Pennsylvania, and one of the largest of its species in the nation. This tree stood on the property when Henning was there, and construction crews made special efforts to keep the tree for the new building.

The lobby features several workspaces for both collaborative and private work.

The first floor of the building boasts a 100-plus seat classroom named for Dr. Fred Metzger Jr. and his wife, Megan. The state-of-the-art desks feature standard outlets and USB ports adjacent to each seat. The front of the classroom is a blank wall, with three projects available to present items instead of a whiteboard or chalkboard.

Much of the building is dedicated to offices and collaborative spaces for the Department of Animal Science and the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, including these two conference rooms.

There are also several new collaborative and break spaces available for faculty to use, including several kitchen amenities.

The second and third floors offer multiple spaces for graduate students within the two departments.

The second and third floors also have labs for their respective departments, featuring state-of-the-art technology and resources for the students and researchers.

The labs also have large rooms that hold several freezers with a steady temperature of -80^o C.

The building features a partial green roof. While it may look brown right now, come springtime, the roof will be bright with green shrubs to utilize otherwise potentially wasted rainwater.

An additional lobby area was built to connect the new Animal, Veterinary, and Biomedical Sciences Building to the preexisting Agriculture Sciences and Business Building.