University of Maine Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center

University of Maine Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center

Orono, Maine | 110,000 gsf | $55 million | 2022

The Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center (EEDC) is a multi-use teaching and research building designed to be the heart of undergraduate engineering education and provide important new research opportunities for the College of Engineering at the University of Maine.

 

The EEDC is organized around a central, multi-story public space, or “Main Street,” which provides interaction areas on every level, as well as direct pedestrian connection from Long Road (the “loop road” on which the building is located) to Cloke Plaza, the heart of the Engineering campus.  While the EEDC’s brick facades relate to the predominant building material of the Engineering campus, its dramatic form and detailed glass surfaces herald the contemporary teaching and research spaces within.

 

The focal point of the EEDC is a hands-on, team-based laboratory suite for design projects of all types where students from multiple engineering disciplines come together to collaborate.  The suite features two main project labs surrounded by a variety of project support spaces such as Rapid Prototyping; Electronics; Bioengineering; Composites; and wood, metal, and auto shops.  The building also houses the main tool lab for the College, which provides a comprehensive array of computer-controlled equipment for student work of all types.  In addition to these shared facilities, the building also houses new teaching labs, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the newly formed Department of Biomedical Engineering, and greatly expanded research space for Biomedical Engineering.

 

Program spaces include flexible laboratories and classrooms for education, design, and research; student team collaboration spaces; and common public spaces.  Also included in the program is a Welcome Center, where all campus-wide tours, including those associated with the admissions process, now originate.  The EEDC thus serves as the gateway to the Orono campus, symbolizing the energy and expanding opportunities present at the College of Engineering as well as the University of Maine as a whole.

 

The project is pursuing LEED Silver certification.

 

Ellenzweig served as the Design Architect and Laboratory Planner, working in collaboration with WBRC, Architect of Record, Landscape Architect, and Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Engineer.

University of Maine Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center