The Computer Design, Research, and Learning Center (CDRLC) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) will establish a new front door for technology in downtown Chicago. The building, designed by LMN Architects in collaboration with Booth Hansen, will be located at a unique, prominent site on campus and will celebrate the natural setting and organic form of the Memorial Grove.
The 135,000-sf facility will consolidate the currently fragmented Computer & Science Department in a new home and co-locate it with a large cluster of university-administered classrooms at the heart of the east campus. The CDRLC is designed to be a welcoming, inclusive, and inviting space for the rapidly growing student body.
It will create a hub for both engineering and computer science that includes research areas comprised of faculty offices, collaboration areas, dry lab, and specialty lab; administrative and student affairs office spaces; collaborative teaching and learning spaces; an undergraduate learning and community center; and a flexible events room. All of these spaces will be stitched together by a five-story daylight atrium.
Together with the existing lab building, the new CDRLC will create a public atrium for social interactions with visual and physical connections to all floors. The atrium will be porous and dynamic with connections to the campus and the community, honoring the past and looking to the future. Reflecting a complex organization of requirements, the building will prompt students to cross paths with one another and enhance intellectual exchange. A new geo-thermal farm will be included in the Memorial Grove.
The CDRLC, which has been designed to achieve LEED Gold certification, will be delivered on an accelerated schedule to see the demands of the department.
Related Stories
University Buildings | Mar 7, 2022
A new facility can offer thousands of equine therapy sessions a year
At its new Spur campus in Denver, Colorado State University (CSU) will bring its expertise to the public by offering free educational experiences to visitors of all ages. Spur’s three buildings—Hydro, Terra, and Vida—will focus, respectively, on water, earth, and life.
University Buildings | Mar 4, 2022
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee celebrates new chemistry building with groundbreaking
The building will serve as a gateway for all STEM and health science related majors, housing the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Higher Education | Mar 1, 2022
SRG Partnership designs a nautically inspired space for maritime science
A community college in Oregon has begun construction on a new building devoted to maritime science. With it, the school hopes to solidify its position as a major industrial and marine technology center in the Pacific Northwest.
Education Facilities | Feb 24, 2022
New ASU science and tech building features innovative sustainability elements
Arizona State University’s Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 7, completed in December 2021, was constructed with numerous innovative sustainability elements.
University Buildings | Feb 18, 2022
On-campus performing arts centers and museums can be talent magnets for universities
Cultural facilities are changing the way prospective students and parents view higher education campuses.
University Buildings | Feb 18, 2022
UPenn converts a library past its prime to a tech-integrated learning and maker
In September 2021, Penn reopened its renovated and expanded library as an open center for cross-disciplinary learning, prototyping, and collaboration. Now called Biotech Commons, the 17,000-sf building supports new modes of research by offering a range of spaces and services that is free to be scheduled by any student or faculty member.
University Buildings | Feb 17, 2022
A vacated school in St. Louis is turned into a center where suppliers exchange ideas
In 1871, The Carondelet School, designed by Frederick William Raeder, opened to educate more than 400 children of laborers and manufacturers in St. Louis. The building is getting a second lease on life, as it has undergone a $2 million renovation by goBRANDgo!, a marketing firm for the manufacturing and industrial sectors.
University Buildings | Feb 15, 2022
Ohio University's Chilled Water Plant #3 brings high design to a campus utility
Leers Weinzapfel Associates has also designed chiller plants on the campuses of Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Tufts University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Harvard University’s Allston Campus, and the Ohio State University.
University Buildings | Feb 14, 2022
Leers Weinzapfel Associates to renovate, expand the Williams College Davis Center
The project will add almost 8,000 sf of space.
Coronavirus | Jan 20, 2022
Advances and challenges in improving indoor air quality in commercial buildings
Michael Dreidger, CEO of IAQ tech startup Airsset speaks with BD+C's John Caulfield about how building owners and property managers can improve their buildings' air quality.
