Collaboration and interaction are the overarching drivers of the BSEB’s design. The main entrance offers a gallery space flanked with glass-fronted cases for departmental displays that provide an area for communication and points of interaction. A bistro serves the atrium floor, with an adjacent outdoor dining patio feature. These features provide easy access to the departmental faculty offices, which are grouped together on the first floor. This supports interaction among the faculty, researchers, and other users of the building and offers a featured attraction to other faculty and students on the campus. The BSEB extends the campus to incorporate the influence of the sciences. Its design is compatible with the architectural guidelines, the style, and the character of the UTSA campus facilities. Exterior facades are modulated to keep the five-story building in scale with the existing three-story buildings on the campus. The successful BSEB is planned to facilitate future expansion of the engineering and sciences area on campus. It takes advantage of and continues with the use of an upper level of paseos and courtyards that are defining the Science and Engineering complex. This research facility anchors the Engineering and Sciences “nexus” and is a major investment in UTSA’s bid to become a “Tier 1” research campus.

Project Information
Building Owner:		University of Texas, San Antonio
Building Location:		San Antonio, Texas UNITED STATES
Project Type:		New Construction
Principal Building Function:		Research and teaching laboratories
Project Timeline		Jun 2001 Planning Start Oct 2001 Design Start May 2003 Construction Start Aug 2005 Completion Last known status: Completed
Project Cost:		$84,000,000
Construction Cost:		$60,210,000
		About These Cost Figures
Building Information
Project Includes:		Atrium Biotechnology Chemistry Education Education: Chemistry Education: Faculty Office Education: Life Sciences Engineering Laboratory: Research Laboratory: Teaching Life Sciences Vivarium
Total GSF:		216,000
Project Team
Architect		FKP Architects
Laboratory Planner		Research Facilities Design (RFD)
Profile Created 10/01/2006
Last Updated 11/06/2006
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.