======Conte Center====== **Constructed**: 1996 **Architects**: Janet Ross of Ellenzweig Associates, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., in association with Whitney Atwood Norcross Associates, Boston. ---- ===== Design and construction =====
Silvio Conte National Center for Polymer Research
The Silvio O. Conte National Center for Polymer Research was conceived as two distinct wings connected by a common elevator: one wing for offices and the other for laboratories. Facing north, the six-story office wing is a steel structure faced with an enameled steel and glass curtain wall. An arcade of exposed steel beams and stone-clad pillars serves no structural function, but creates an inviting entranceway to the building. The curved design of the office wing draws the eye into a courtyard created by the convergence of the Center and the [[l:lederle_graduate|Graduate Research Towers]]. The eight-story laboratory wing has limestone paneling and a granite base that blend with other buildings in the immediate vicinity. The wing houses 113 research labs serviced by 150 fume hoods. ===== Naming of the building===== The building was named after the late [[http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/umarmot/?p=436|Silvio O. Conte]] (R-Pittsfield), a former U.S. congressman who was committed to polymer research and was instrumental in obtaining federal funding to build the complex. ---- ==== Source ==== * From //Three Architectural Tours: Selected Buildings on the Campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst// (Amherst, 2000) * For additional information, consult the University Archives (RG 36/101). * Conte's papers are held in the UMass Amherst [[http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/|Department of Special Collections and University Archives]]