Inside the Singh Center: Penn’s $92M nanotechnology home [PHOTOS]

Inside Penn‘s month-old $92 million nanotechnology center, Penn researchers are researching ways to use molecule-sized particles to change the world. They’re analyzing ancient pottery, developing better solar panels and studying a “miracle material” called graphene.

Backed by a $20 million grant from South Jersey energy-technology executive and Penn alumnus Krishna P. Singh, the 78,000 square foot center features state-of-the-art labs, equipment and even something called “marigold glass,” which protects the center’s equipment from ultraviolet light and also gives the center its unique color.

All summer construction on Walnut Street through Penn’s campus largely covered what is a sleek and modern glass and steel building that opened in October as The Singh Center at 3205 Walnut.

“The Singh Center is one of the few places in the world where you can find this kind of equipment and expertise in the heart of a major metropolitan city,” said Mark Allen, the Singh Center’s scientific director, in a release. “In addition to enabling world-class research and providing outstanding educational opportunities in nanotechnology, we aim to be a two-way street for entrepreneurship and innovation.”

It was “easily the most impressive new design in the city since the Barnes Foundation opened last year,” said Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron.

“Their dazzling new project is like the mythical centaur,” she wrote. “You can’t exactly say whether it is man or beast.”

Check out photos in the slideshow below by clicking at either side.

Photos by Albert Vecerka.

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Read more about the center from the Inquirer here.