University of Massachusetts Amherst Engineering Research Building

University of Massachusetts Amherst Engineering Research Building

Amherst, Massachusetts | 57,000 gsf | $20 million | 2004

The Engineering Research Building houses the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering. The building consists of two components: a laboratory block, which is three stories above grade, and the Learning Center, housed in a circular two-story volume. The Learning Center is available for campus-wide use, and includes a 195-seat lecture hall and a 35-seat distance learning classroom.

 

The program includes engineering research laboratories, lab support areas, team write-up and work areas, offices, conference room, and the lecture hall and classroom. All laboratory areas are based on flexible planning modules, allowing the building to be configured into single- and multiple-module laboratories; typical floors were designed to accommodate future reconfiguration.

 

Exterior building materials – brick, metal, and glass – were selected to respond to existing campus buildings. The lobby functions as an architectural thoroughfare for the campus, connecting it to lower-level parking areas.

 

Ellenzweig served as Architect-of-Record, Lab Planner, and Design Architect; Whitney Atwood Norcross served as Associate Architect.

University of Massachusetts Amherst Engineering Research Building