Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center

The building’s programming and design stress the need to eliminate traditional departmental boundaries, and focus on the integration of shop, lab, classroom, and computer space for the Mechanical, Civil, and Biomedical Engineering Departments and the newly merged Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, all which previously had dedicated and specialized resources.

The building received a LEED™ silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council and incorporates several sustainable design techniques including the use of natural daylight in 75 percent of the building’s interior spaces including a below-grade floor; the use of high performance glass; mechanized sunshades with solar tracking on the exterior façades; a raised floor air displacement system, which will reduce cooling loads; an integrated retention basin that captures storm water for landscape irrigation; increased insulation at walls and roof; the use of materials with high recycled content.

Recently completed, the building houses a centralized student machine shop, rapid prototyping facilities, biomedical/chemical engineering labs, studio classrooms, design fabrication and assembly spaces, a lecture hall, project display areas, and a lounge/study area.

Project Information

Building Owner:

Northwestern University

Building Location:

Evanston , Illinois UNITED STATES

Project Type:

New Construction

Principal Building Function:

Academic facility

Project Delivery Method:

Lump Sum

Project Timeline

Oct 2005	Completion
Last known status: Completed

Construction Cost:

$25,000,000

Cost Per Sq. Ft:

$500

About These Cost Figures

Building Information

Project Includes:

Education
Education: Classroom
Education: Computer Lab
Education: Lecture Or Seminar Hall
Education: Student Center
Engineering
Interdisciplinary Research

Total GSF:

84,000

Project Team

Architect

Davis Brody Bond Aedas

Commissioning Agent

Sebesta Blomberg & Associates Inc.

Consultant - Fire Protection

Rolf Jensen & Associates

Consultant - Specifications

Construction Specifications Inc.

Cost Estimator

Morgan Construction Consultants Inc.

Engineer - MEP

BR+A/Bard,Rao + Athanas Consulting Engineers Inc.

Engineer - Civil

ARC Design

Engineer - Structural

Chris P. Stefano Associates

General Contractor

Turner Construction

Pre-construction Management

Tishman Construction

Profile Created 10/01/2005

Last Updated 03/19/2007

About the Reported Cost Figures

The cost figures reported are supplied by the firms that submitted these projects for publication, which in most cases are the designers or builders. Whereas these sources are intimately familiar with their projects, they may not be fully aware of the owners' finally-realized and recorded costs. In some cases, costs are truly and completely accounted for, and in others they represent a near approximation of the final costs. Costs have not been adjusted for year of construction, nor has any attempt been made to make regional cost adjustments.

Further, costs are not comparable on any kind of detailed standard costing model. Hence, it is possible for the cost of one building to include a steam boiler, while the cost of a comparable building might not include the boiler, if steam is being supplied from an already existing campus grid. Or, in another case, a building might include excess boiler capacity to supply steam to another building. Some submittals include fees or unusual site improvements as part of the construction costs, which others do not.

Fig. 1

Exterior

Fig. 2

Atrium

Fig. 3

Classroom

Fig. 4

Floor Plan