Engineering building opens at Virginia Commonwealth University
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.
About the Author
Mike Kennedy
Senior Editor
Mike Kennedy has been writing about education for American School & University since 1999. He also has reported on schools and other topics for The Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, The Kansas City Times and City News Bureau of Chicago. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.
