$15 million science building caps decade of improvements at McCallie

This is an artist's rendering of the McCallie School's new sciences building set to open in January 2015.

Students planted Arabidopsis, or rockcress, seeds Friday morning in shot-glass-size containers in Elizabeth Forrester's advanced placement biology class at McCallie School.

A relative of mustard and cabbage, Arabidopsis is a go-to plant for genetic research -- but it must be refrigerated before it will sprout.

"I'm actually taking these home to my refrigerator," said Forrester.

That won't be necessary much longer, because refrigerated storage space will be included in a $15 million, three-story, 40,000-square-foot science building that's under construction and is slated to open in January 2016 on the campus of the all-boys private school on the slopes of Missionary Ridge off Dodds Avenue.

It's the latest sign of growth and improvement at McCallie, which also has built an indoor tennis center, two new dormitories, a dining hall and renovated its chapel over the past 10 years.

"It's going to be state-of-the-art," McCallie Headmaster Lee Burns III said of the new science building. "We're excited."

It will have space for chemistry and biology labs on the top floor, physics and biology classes on the second floor and a first-floor engineering lab equipped with saws, welding and robotics gear. The first floor also will have a "global conferencing room," a 160-seat space for such uses as meetings. Students will be able to videconference there with scholars elsewhere.

McCallie designed the building to be flexible, Assistant Headmaster Kenneth Sholl said.

"What will science education look like in the future?" Sholl asked. "As best we could, we created a very nimble building."

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$15 million science building caps decade of improvements at McCallie