Millennium Imagination Complex

It's a bird.  It's a plane.  No, it's the Millennium Science Building.  This building may be one of the biggest research buildings, it is also one of the most interesting buildings on campus.

The building, in its simplest terms could be described as an "L" shape, if you're an English kind of person or two perpendicular lines meeting, if math is your thing.  At the back of the building where the two "lines" would meet, the building slopes upward into a point.  I truly don't know how to describe the back of the building better, so here is a picture of it instead.

The true interest of the Millennium Science Building, to me, is its unique shape.  Its unusual look can perk the imagination of any person who looks at it.  The first thing that I ever was told about the Millennium Science Building when I arrived at Penn State is that it looks like a boat.  I didn't really understand this statement until I saw it for myself.

The building looks to me a lot like the Titanic, or a cruise liner.  The main part of the building is the ship, with the two towers being big smoke stacks. Sadly, it appears that if this was a boat, it would no longer be seaworthy, due to the giant hole and bend in the middle, which sadly also reminds me of the Titanic.






The back of the building also can take on a second, or even a third life in the dark.  From the back, this part of the building can look like the prow of a boat sailing through the night.  Another idea is that the building looks like one of the aliens from space invaders.  I'm not sure if you can see it, but I can see two eyes and a mouth, but that's also coming from the guy that can see a face in the headlights and grill of a car.  If you don't believe me look at the pictures below, and if you still don't believe me then, I may just have an overactive imagination.

(I would like to take this moment to apologize for the poor quality of the drawing, but it was much better than my first attempt.)

A final part of this building that invokes lots of imagination is the garden at the back entrance.  If you stand in the middle of the garden, surrounded by plants, it is like standing in the middle of a jungle.  It is weird to think of being in the middle of a jungle, in the middle of a college campus, but you truly feel alone when all you can see is leaves all around you, and the bright lights from the building.

Many people would never expect a science building on campus to be a symbol for imagination but it truly makes sense.  It is because of the creativity and imagination of scientists and researchers, and their thoughts and questions that lead the world toward new discoveries.  It is also because of this creativity that Penn State is the research college that it is.

Maybe next time you are strolling around campus, you will take a second and use your creativity to see not just a building but something much more.