Working closely with the College of Engineering, BWBR led a master planning effort to identify future growth opportunities and create a more collaborative, connected, flexible, and research-supportive complex. The first implemented phase renovated Ehly Hall and the adjoining Architecture building, focusing mainly on expanding research resources and adding wet labs and materials testing technology.

Ehly Hall’s renovated labs are designed to be blank slates, capable of adapting to the latest technology and flexing with changes in interdisciplinary research. A structures/materials testing lab is home to two mobile gantry cranes and is shared by a sliding overhead door to easily accommodate large materials deliveries, an environmental room for “breaking” materials through simulated weather conditions, and a wet lab for analyzing the resulting damage. The only campus cleanroom features windows for clear collaborative sightlines between researchers both inside and outside of the room.

Designed in collaboration with architect of record, Zerr Berg Architects.