![\"Aerial](\"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2015\/09\/box7_file27.4-1024x723.jpg\")
<\/a>Aerial view of Wright State’s Dayton Campus, showing Airway Road and the Warner farm, foreground, the \u201cDayton Campus\u201d sign, lower left, Allyn Hall, top center, and a portion of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, upper right. (Photo courtesy of Wright State Archives and Special Collections)<\/p><\/div>\n
The seeds for Wright State were planted in a pasture 12 miles northeast of downtown Dayton in the early 1960s. The chosen site had plenty of room for expansion, highway access and was close to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base \u2014 a dream come true for Air Force planners thirsting for a nearby university.<\/p>\n
Founders Novice Fawcett and Stanley Allyn pressed for large acreage, saying there was no such thing as a university with too much land. So a man by the name of Henry Bader went from farm parcel to farm parcel, buying a total of 428 acres for $756,000.<\/p>\n
Allyn Hall, the first campus building, opened for classes in 1964. The four-story structure housed classrooms, laboratories, administrative offices, a library, a bookstore, a lounge and a vending machine room. There was one parking lot.<\/p>\n
The last few construction dollars were used to build a bell tower, which would become a visual symbol of the university.<\/p>\n
In 1965, ground was broken for the science and engineering building, which would become Oelman Hall and for the classroom-library building, which would become Millett. Two years later, Fawcett Hall and a university center was completed.<\/p>\n
Completed in 1973 was Dunbar Library, a giant triangle resting on large pylons with a glass fa\u00e7ade, a skylight roof and an atrium with an overlooking-balcony effect.<\/p>\n
By the end of the 1970s, the university had 13 major buildings, including ones for the creative arts, medical and biological sciences, physical education and student activities, as well as a dormitory and school of medicine.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Allyn Hall before it open its doors in September 1964. (Photo courtesy of Wright State Archives and Special Collections)<\/p><\/div>\n
Rike Hall for the College of Business was completed in 1981, the Russ Engineering Center in the early 1990s and University Hall for administration offices a decade later.<\/p>\n
Many of the campus buildings are more utilitarian than stylish. They are referred to by some as \u201cbackground\u201d buildings because they don\u2019t really make an architectural statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s really fun now,\u201d said Wright State Architect Robert Thompson. \u201cWe can do things that stick out a little bit, but still fit on campus. The administration is open to good ideas. They are not afraid to explore some things.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a>The Neuroscience Engineering Collaboration Building will bring together scientists, engineers and clinicians to create a unique synergy between biomedical research and engineering. (Photo by Will Jones)<\/p><\/div>\n
Thompson\u2019s office, where blueprints are stacked like pancakes on his desk, gives him an up-close look at the front porch of the campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been a bit of a building blitz lately,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The new Neuroscience Engineering Collaboration Building<\/a>, or NEC, gives the campus a splash of color.<\/p>\n The four-story, L-shaped structure features two wings that flank a central atrium. The building is honeycombed with laboratories and includes offices, conference rooms and a 105-seat auditorium for research symposiums.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is one impressive building,\u201d said Robert Fyffe, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School. \u201cThe work that goes on in this building will truly be cutting-edge, maybe even science fiction in its nature.\u201d<\/p>\n The building is the first of its kind to be intentionally designed to drive research interaction across disciplines, bringing 30 researchers from seven disciplines under one roof to understand brain, spinal cord and nerve disorders and develop treatments and devices.<\/p>\n Architectural features include chilled ceiling beams that provide a natural, energy-efficient convection air current, an anti-vibration floor that preserves the clarity of sensitive lasers and microscopes and a dust-free sensors lab that is free of the tiniest speck.<\/p>\n About 70 percent of the building\u2019s fa\u00e7ade is glass, enabling natural light to stream into the structure and create an airy work environment. The fa\u00e7ade is clad with hundreds of colorful glass \u201cfins\u201d that provide shading and reduce heat buildup on sunny days. In the atrium is a dazzling art installation with 3-D asterisks that mimic the firing of the brain\u2019s neurons.<\/p>\n Wright State\u2019s new Student Success Center features high-tech, active-learning classrooms, writing and math support labs and an outdoor rain garden. (Photo by Will Jones)<\/p><\/div>\n The new Student Success Center<\/a> has a lively, unconventional shape.<\/p>\n The three-story, 60,000-square-foot building features a 220-seat lecture hall and large active-learning classrooms loaded with screens, laptops and other cutting-edge technology. A math center and student support services are also housed in the building.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole design is unique,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cIt was very intentional in recognizing that education doesn\u2019t always happen in a classroom. The way the circulation spaces were designed was to create pockets where people can get together and talk. A lot of learning happens in those informal settings.\u201d<\/p>\n Seiger, who has experienced the campus in both the past and present, says she is excited about the university\u2019s future.<\/p>\n \u201cWright State is truly unique in the way it has adjusted to the times and how it has led the way in teaching students how to seek knowledge so they can think about, analyze and solve the world\u2019s problems, large and small,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A flurry of construction projects, including the new Neuroscience Engineering Collaboration Building and the Student Success Center, gives Wright State\u2019s Dayton Campus a new look. Continue reading <\/a>