The new home of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, designed by Perkins+Will, opened at the University at Buffalo. Co-locating the departments of computer science and electrical engineering in a single facility, the 133,000-sf Barbara and Jack Davis Hall creates an collaborative education and research environment.
Clad in glass and copper-colored panels, the three-story building thrusts outward from the core of the campus to establish a new identity for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the campus at large. Formerly scattered among seven different locations, the engineering campus is now focused and consolidated, with a defined “front door” for the school and a new quad and interior common spaces.??
Davis Hall will enable the University at Buffalo to expand research in nanotechnology, pattern recognition and bio-based security systems, among other fields. The hybrid design of the hall stresses the value of interactive space for learning and discovery. The building is organized around a glass-enclosed, multi-story gallery that facilitates pedestrian traffic into the existing campus, creates an interactive educational/research environment, and culminates in a multi-tiered student lounge that activates a new courtyard shared with the existing Marcel Breuer buildings.
Facing south, the glass gallery is a daylight-filled science commons that includes open staircases that allow for spontaneous student and staff interaction. It also comprises a series of interlocking volumes that include windows into laboratories for the active display of technological research. Throughout the building, which also houses the Center of Excellence in Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR) and the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors (CUBS), cross-disciplinary zones are distributed for informal gathering spaces equipped with SMART Boards.
The new hall is tracking for USGBC LEED Gold certification through features like enhanced building shell insulation, high-performance windows and energy efficient lighting, the building improves overall energy performance 33.8% above the baseline ASHRAE 90.1-2004 requirements. +
Related Stories
| Aug 20, 2014
Tour an office with no assigned workstations [slideshow]
The New York office of the Gerson Lehrman Group recently redesigned its office without personal desks or cubicles. The company gave each of its 250 employees a locker, a laptop, and told to work anywhere they wanted, according to Business Insider.
| Aug 20, 2014
Architecture Billings Index reaches highest mark since 2007
The American Institute of Architects reported the July ABI score was 55.8, up noticeably from a mark of 53.5 in June.
| Aug 19, 2014
Goettsch Partners unveils design for mega mixed-use development in Shenzhen [slideshow]
The overall design concept is of a complex of textured buildings that would differentiate from the surrounding blue-glass buildings of Shenzhen.
| Aug 19, 2014
HOK to acquire 360 Architecture
Expected to be finalized by the end of October, the acquisition of 360 Architecture will provide immediate benefits to both firms’ clients worldwide as HOK re-enters the sports and entertainment market.
| Aug 19, 2014
A designer's epiphany: 'Let's stop talking and make something'
Making things is important because it reveals gaps in thought, sheds light on the fundamental assumptions that can kill ideas, and forces us to push toward solutions that actually work, writes HDR's David Grandy.
| Aug 19, 2014
Construction boom lures new class of lenders in Nashville, says JLL
In the coming months, a gleaming S-shaped tower will join Nashville's burgeoning skyline. The new tower is just one example of a project financed not with conventional construction loans but with a unique blend of equity and debt.
| Aug 18, 2014
Perkins+Will expands planning practice with strategic focus on underserved U.S. communities
The broadened focus is resulting in comprehensive, long-term plans that will guide new growth in places like Buffalo, N.Y., Kingston, R.I., and Brooklyn, N.Y.
| Aug 18, 2014
SPARK’s newly unveiled mixed-use development references China's flowing hillscape
Architecture firm SPARK recently finished a design for a new development in Shenzhen. The 770,700 square-foot mixed-use structure's design mimics the hilly landscape of the site's locale.
| Aug 18, 2014
Seaside luxury: Arquitectonica, Melo Group introduce Aria on the Bay condo tower in Miami
Melo Group has launched sales for Aria on the Bay, its new 647-unit luxury condominium in Miami. The bayfront condo will overlook Margaret Pace Park, Biscayne Bay and the Miami Beach skyline.
Sponsored | | Aug 16, 2014
Fire-rated framing system makes the grade at Johnson & Wales University Center
The precision engineering of TGP’s Fireframes Aluminum Series creates narrow profiles and crisp sightlines at Johnson & Wales University Center for Physician Assistant Studies