Georgia Southern’s new $60 million, 140,625-sf Engineering and Research Building has completed construction. The building was designed to facilitate academic and institutional partnerships, inspire creative engineering, and accelerate academic success for students in the College of Engineering and Computing.
The new facility centralizes various departments and multiple disciplines whose activities previously took place in three buildings. The building will enhance the university’s research capabilities as well as opportunities for faculty to engage students in hands-on research and teaching projects.
Applied research spaces with a strong focus on manufacturing engineering, civil engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering are all housed in the three-story building. Workspaces can be easily reconfigured for various uses, projects, and applications while also providing students with access to industry-grade equipment and expanded opportunities for undergraduate research.
In total the building houses more than 35 labs including robotics and automated manufacturing labs, a traditional and CNC finishing lab, a materials science and characterization lab, an industrial instrumentation and controls lab, a joining and welding lab, and a renewable energy roof deck lab (solar, wind, weather). Metal and non-metal 3D-printing spaces are also included.
The building also includes one of the Southeast’s only Class 3 cleanrooms, which is necessary for manufacturing or scientific research that requires and environment with very low levels of pollutants such as dust, microbes, vapors, or aerosol particles.
21 research spaces, six classrooms, four conference rooms, 27 offices, and a 1,500-sf colloquium space with a 500-sf balcony are also included.
SmithGroup was the project architect. JE Dunn Construction built the facility.
Related Stories
University Buildings | May 30, 2015
Texas senate approves $3 billion in bonds for university construction
For the first time in nearly a decade, Texas universities could soon have some state money for construction.
University Buildings | May 19, 2015
Special Report: How your firm can help struggling colleges and universities meet their building project goals
Building Teams that want to succeed in the higher education market have to help their clients find new funding sources, control costs, and provide the maximum value for every dollar.
University Buildings | May 19, 2015
Renovate or build new: How to resolve the eternal question
With capital budgets strained, renovation may be an increasingly attractive money-saving option for many college and universities.
University Buildings | May 19, 2015
KU Jayhawks take a gander at a P3 development
The P3 concept is getting a tryout at the University of Kansas, where state funding for construction has fallen from 20% of project costs to about 11% over the last 10 years.
University Buildings | May 5, 2015
Where the university students are (or will be)
SmithGroupJJR's Alexa Bush discusses changing demographics and the search for out-of-state students at public universities.
BIM and Information Technology | Apr 9, 2015
How one team solved a tricky daylighting problem with BIM/VDC tools, iterative design
SRG Partnership's Scott Mooney describes how Grasshopper, Diva, Rhino, and 3D printing were utilized to optimize a daylighting scheme at Oregon State University's new academic building.
Sponsored | University Buildings | Apr 8, 2015
Student Housing: The fight against mold starts in the bathroom
University Buildings | Apr 8, 2015
The competitive advantage of urban higher-ed institutions
In the coming years, urban colleges and universities will outperform their non-urban peers, bolstered by the 77 million Millennials who prefer to live in dense, diverse, and socially rich environments, writes SmithGroupJJR's Michael Johnson.
University Buildings | Mar 18, 2015
Academic incubators: Garage innovation meets higher education
Gensler's Jill Goebel and Christine Durman discuss the role of design in academic incubators, and why many universities are building them to foster student growth.
Retail Centers | Mar 10, 2015
Retrofit projects give dying malls new purpose
Approximately one-third of the country’s 1,200 enclosed malls are dead or dying. The good news is that a sizable portion of that building stock is being repurposed.
