Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) has opened a $93 million Engineering Research Building on the Richmond campus
Richmond BizSense reports that the four-story, 133,000-square-foot facility features interdisciplinary research labs, study areas, a career services center and a cafe.
The building also features a 9,000-square-foot Innovation Maker Facility, a space dedicated to experiential learning and equipped with a 3-D printer among other resources.
The new engineering building connects to VCU School of Business’s Snead Hall and VCU Engineering’s East Hall. The project added a shared workspace and courtyard to create common spaces for the complex, a setup that VCU officials said would foster interdisciplinary collaboration.
“This great new space is going to serve as a bold, advanced innovation corridor for VCU’s college of engineering, our maker garage, the school of business and the VCU Brandcenter,” VCU President Michael Rao said. “It’s a great place where diverse talents will meet with the common goal of advancing humanity through practice, state-of-the-art and compassionate solutions to important problems.”
The architects are Baskervill; Goody Clancy; and Smith + McClane. The construction manager is Kjellstrom + Lee Construction.
