The Illinois Capital Development Board (CDB) along with LMN Architects and Booth Hansen have announced plans for the design and construction of the new Computer Design, Research, and Learning Center at the University of Illinois Chicago.
An article in My Radio Link stated that this project will be located at a unique prominent site on campus and will establish a new front door for technology in downtown Chicago.
"Illinois is home to the best universities and research centers in the world and boasts a talented workforce that attracts companies from across the globe. This new learning center on the UIC campus, made possible through funding from our historic bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital plan, will further cement the university's place as a world-class institution that excels in preparing talented students for the careers of tomorrow."
Illinois Governor | JB Pritzker
UIC is Chicago's only public research university and one of the most diverse universities in the United States. The new 135,000 square foot Computer Design, Research and Learning Center at UIC will consolidate the 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 building is designed to be a welcoming, inclusive and inviting space for the diverse student body. The building will also have state-of-the-art facilities, accommodate the rapidly increasing undergraduate enrollment in computer science and become a new campus hub.
"The new CDRLC represents the future of higher education at UIC and is intended to be a welcoming space to promote innovation, collaboration and discovery. We placed an intentional emphasis on the public spaces, research labs and collaborative areas to enhance the experience that each student will have, and it has been a pleasure collaborating with LMN Architects and Booth Hansen. Students at UIC will have a new building on campus where they can unleash their curiosity and enjoy a space that is focused on learning, research and teamwork."
Dean of UIC College of Engineering | Peter Nelson
This will be the third recent academic building to be built on the east campus that was originally designed by Walter Netsch in 1965. The building will be on an accelerated schedule to meet the demands of the department which will double its capacity by 2023. It will create a hub for both engineering and computer science that will include research areas comprised of the following:
- Faculty offices
- Collaboration areas
- Dry lab
- Specialty lab
- Administrative and student affairs office spaces
- Collaborative teaching and learning spaces for undergraduate and graduate students
- Undergraduate learning and community center
- Flexible events room
- Five story daylit atrium
The building will be functional, flexible and respectful of the context and will create a contemporary addition to this iconic brutalist campus. It will be located at a unique, prominent site on the campus and will celebrate the natural setting and organic form of the Memorial Grove and establish a new front door for technology in Chicago.
The new CDRLC creates a dramatic public atrium for social interactions with visual and physical connections to all floors. It will feature a refined precast concrete and terra cotta facade that is inspired by Netsch's late modern architecture and responds to the site conditions and the Memorial Grove.
The project will include a substantial new geo-thermal farm in Memorial Grove and the building has been designed to receive LEED Gold certification.
The historic Rebuild Illinois capital plan passed with bipartisan super-majorities will invest $45 billion in roads, bridges, railways, universities, early childhood centers and state facilities like the new crime lab and veterans' homes, creating and supporting an estimated 540,000 jobs over the life of the six-year plan and revitalizing local economies across the state.
DataBid is currently reporting on this project - CDB University of Illinois Computer Design Research & Learning Center Construction (0020022621)
