Wentworth Institute of Technology’s first new academic building in 45 years was recently completed on the university’s Boston campus. The Leers Weinzapfel Associates-designed Center for Engineering, Innovation, and Sciences is a multi-disciplinary facility meant to expand the school’s engineering education.
The four-story, 75,000-sf facility will offer an environment for students of biology, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and biological engineering to collaborate. The building’s ground floor houses an additive manufacturing lab and Accelerate, an interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial project-based program. Floors two through four include laboratories, student learning and meeting spaces, offices, and support/storage space.
The campus is vulnerable to flooding, so the Center’s ground floor was built two feet above current grade and the design minimized the systems equipment in the basement. Sustainability elements include a highly-efficient thermal envelope that includes sun shading on the east, south, and west facades, and mechanical equipment designed for maximum efficiency. The facility is targeting Leed Silver certification.
See Also: ‘One Harvard’ initiative injects new life into campus center
The Center for Engineering, Innovation, and Sciences opened in November 2018.
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