The opened up spaces that had been previously included and added lots of technology into their "large" lecture room. While the room looked small, it supposedly held nearly 200 people. Even better from out standpoint, the lecture hall offered a snorkel fume hood so instructors could do live demonstrations.
The building was bright, clean, well organized. Every teaching lab offered views from the hallways into the lab, which from my point of view would make supervising TA's easier. This way, anyone walking down the hall could see if the TA was acting appropriately.
Even more importantly, the open study spaces were located near the teaching spaces, allowing students a place to go when they are waiting on classes. These spaces even had white boards for students to use for study. Within the classrooms, the outdoors were brought in through the use of windows both to the outside and to the hallway. Don't worry though, there were plenty of shades to dim the lights so the projectors could be used. For the labs, equipment was stored on easy to see shelves, with extras stored within the lab space. Students could work easily in groups around a table of four, instead of down long rows meant for individual work.
Did I mention they have a big Green Chemistry program? All the labs (lower level and upper level) were designed around the principles of green chemistry, so their spaces were designed to not need to dispose of dangerous chemicals either though waste disposal or out fume hoods.
I also loved that the roof was used as a sustainable rain garden to help collect water that was then used to support the plants growing on the property. Plus, they had solar panels to augment the electricity used in heating and cooling the facility. That takes some serious support by the administration to bring a building up to those kind of standards.
Like most of the buildings we visited, there were some pretty cool views. It's a shame that the location for our new academic science building isn't going to have such awesome landscapes to look at. Just the UK Chandler hospital or the parking garage. Hopefully we'll see some fancy landscaping to make up for it.