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Bridge for Laboratory Sciences

building in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ23602589 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Bridge for Laboratory Sciences (shortened to the Bridge) is a two-story laboratory and classroom building on the campus of Vassar College in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York. Designed by Ennead Architects, the 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) structure curves 300 feet (91 m) across the Fonteyn Kill and connects to the renovated Olmsted Hall as part of the Integrated Science Center project.

History

Vassar College in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, began a project to completely renovate New England Building and Sanders Physics Building, partially renovate Olmsted Hall, and construct a new science center in 2011. In anticipation of the building's construction, Vassar's Environmental Research Institute, in conjunction with Cornell University's Cooperative Extension Dutchess County began to monitor the water quality of the Fonteyn Kill, a stream that runs through Vassar's campus over which the building was to be built. The Bridge for Laboratory Sciences (or the Bridge for short) cost $90 million in 2013. The main construction team was Daniel O'Connell and Sons with architectural design by Ennead Architects. The Bridge opened on January 4, 2016.

Architecture and features

The Bridge stands two stories tall and spans 300 feet (91 m) across the Fonteyn Kill. On one end, it connects to the renovated Olmsted Hall, making up the "Integrated Science Center", a facility with a total combined area of 157,000 square feet (14,600 m2). On its other end, the building lets out near Skinner Hall for Music.

Editorial summary

“Bridge for Laboratory Sciences” enters the record as building in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bridge, Laboratory and Sciences can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2011, 2013, 2016—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Bridge, Laboratory and Sciences.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Bridge for Laboratory Sciences” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Bridge, Laboratory and Sciences provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q23602589. Authority coordinates are 41.684, -73.896. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011, 2013 and 2016.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Bridge for Laboratory Sciences”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Bridge for Laboratory Sciences primary sources, Bridge for Laboratory Sciences archive and Bridge research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bridge for Laboratory Sciences”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Bridge for Laboratory Sciences” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.