The building serves as a place of interaction not only between engineering students and faculty, but also between the engineering school and the campus at-large. Circulation is organized to draw outside pedestrian traffic through the first level, where the engineering systems and internal workings of the building are partially revealed and student projects are displayed.

The main floor is a dramatic public space with a soaring three-story atrium above, which is highlighted by a full-height glass wall. The ground level of the atrium houses the Discovery Center, an open shop area where student projects are produced, and Innovation Center, which includes woodworking, metal and welding shops; an electronics lab; classrooms; a canoe bay; and an auto shop for three cars. The canoe bay and auto shop provide the necessary design and fabrication space for the University to compete in national student engineering competitions.

The two upper floors provide large, flexible laboratory space and support offices. Class 10 through Class 1,000 cleanrooms provide the controlled environment for nano- and micro-technology, the biomedical engineering and plasma manufacturing. Laboratory and research space was designed to be ultra-flexible by bringing utilities, exhaust, compressed air, electrical, and chemical connections to the wall portion of the laboratory. This flexible design allows for customization of the laboratory environment based on the researchers’ grant requirements.

The Engineering Centes received the 2004 Golden Trowel Award (Best in Category—Tile/Marble/Terrazzo), the 2003 AIA Wisconsin, Honor Award, and the 2002 Wisconsin Chapter—American Society of Landscape Architects (WASLA), Merit Award.

Project Information
Building Owner:		University of Wisconsin
Building Location:		Madison, Wisconsin UNITED STATES
Project Type:		New Construction
Principal Building Function:		Multi-disciplinary interactive teaching and learning facility
Project Delivery Method:		Design/Bid/Build
Project Timeline		Oct 1997 Planning Start Feb 1998 Design Start Jun 2000 Construction Start Aug 2002 Completion Last known status: Completed
Project Cost:		$53,000,000
Construction Cost:		$47,000,000
Cost Per Sq. Ft:		$230
		About These Cost Figures
Building Information
Project Includes:		Biomedical Cleanroom Education Engineering Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory Manufacturing Materials Science
Total GSF:		204,000
Project Team
Architect		Flad Architects
Engineer - MEP		Affiliated Engineers Inc. (AEI)
Laboratory Planner		GPR Planners Collaborative, Inc.
Profile Created 02/02/2007
Last Updated 10/12/2007
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.