The design of Boston University’s Data Science building is sure to turn some heads when it completes in 2022. The 17-story, 345,000-sf building will resemble a stack of books rising up from a podium on the university’s central campus. For the first time, BU’s mathematics, statistics, and computer science departments will be under one roof, maximizing collaboration, interaction, and interconnectivity.
The building’s transparent, porous podium will occupy the entire width of the site to complete the streetscape and generate maximum group floor animation on Commonwealth Avenue. It will rise four-stories and accommodate the larger programmatic volumes and offer a series of zones for interaction, including the Cafe, the Cascading Stair, the Street Studio, and the Fireplace Lounge.
Atop the podium will sit an additional 13 floors, each one slightly off center from the one below to create the stack of books aesthetic. Floors three through five will house the mathematics and statistics department (the fifth floor will also have a lunch space and meeting rooms). Floors six through 10 will comprise mainly space for the computer science department. The interdisciplinary Hariri Institute will be located on the top six floors, with floors 11 and 12 housing administrative offices.
See Also: Denning House completes at Stanford University
The building will include a series of terraced platforms for small group interaction, whiteboard walls, and a collaboration ramp stippled with gathering spaces.
On the team: BRA (MEP), Entuitive + LeMessurier (structural engineer), Richard Burck (landscape architect), and Nitsch Engineering (civil engineer). Construction is expected to begin this spring.
Related Stories
University Buildings | Apr 16, 2019
UMass Amherst’s new copper-clad Business Innovation Hub adds 70,000 sf to the university’s business school
Bjarke Ingels Group designed the facility.
University Buildings | Apr 2, 2019
Denning House completes at Stanford University
Ennead Architects designed the building.
University Buildings | Mar 28, 2019
Tulane University’s new student center combines the old and the new
StudioWTA designed the building.
University Buildings | Mar 27, 2019
Veterans Resource Center at Cypress College breaks ground
Sundt Construction is building the project.
University Buildings | Mar 26, 2019
The Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering opens on the University of Washington campus
LMN Architects designed the facility.
Mixed-Use | Feb 21, 2019
An R&D-oriented innovation district is taking shape in the heart of Durham, N.C.
Its buildout has included converting old tobacco warehouses into offices and labs.
University Buildings | Feb 1, 2019
University of Miami design/build program receives new immersive-learning facility
Professor Rocco Ceo designed the studio space.
University Buildings | Jan 29, 2019
The Colorado School of Mines CoorsTek Center opens
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson designed the building.
University Buildings | Dec 17, 2018
SCUP and University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing release study results on lactation policy and facilities in U.S. higher education
There is a wide variability between how campuses accommodate the needs of breastfeeding mothers.
University Buildings | Dec 12, 2018
New Life Science Building at University of Washington designed for the next generation of research and teaching
Perkins+Will designed the facility.