The 155,000-gsf facility was opened in September 2005, with a construction cost of $44.5 million and overall project cost of $55.4 million.

"This is the most state-of-the-art facility we have ever had within the college of engineering," says William Fourney, Ph.D., chairman of the Aerospace Engineering Department for the University of Maryland. Fourney authored the original planning document for the facility and oversaw the project from inception to completion.

"When I originally wrote the plan for this building we predicted that our research expenditures would double from $20 million to $40 million," says Fourney. "However, when we actually moved into the building our research budget was at an all-time high of $110 million, which we feel is directly linked to success in winning large multidisciplinary research projects which this facility encourages."

To date the University has sold approximately two-thirds of the naming rights within the new Kim Engineering Building, raising about $15 million. This includes $3 million from an $11-million gift from a private donor to establish a bioengineering department.

Multidisciplinary Facilities

The Kim Engineering Building is located on the College Park campus, the largest of the 11 campuses within the University of Maryland System, which includes approximately 36,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 2,000 faculty members.

Within the A. James Clark School of Engineering there are approximately 190 faculty members, 2,800 undergraduate students, and 1,600 graduate students. The Clark School includes eight departments: aerospace engineering, bio-resources engineering, civil and environmental engineering, chemical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, material sciences engineering, mechanical engineering, and fire protection engineering, the only accredited program of its kind in the United States.

"All of our facilities have a multidisciplinary focus because there is not one engineering department that has its own building," says Fourney. "Including the new Kim Engineering Building, we are spread throughout 15 different facilities around campus and of these there is no building that is occupied by less than three departments."

Fourney adds that the Kim Engineering Building is no exception and in fact takes the multidisciplinary concept one step farther since the actual labs and cleanroom space are also shared among departments.

"The idea of sharing lab space was difficult to sell at first since it is a departure from what our researchers are used to," says Fourney. "However, the Kim Engineering lab space is so state-of-the-art that researchers willingly tried the concept and most now fully embrace the idea."

According to Fourney, sharing lab space helps eliminate the need to duplicate expensive specialized equipment, such as high-powered microscopes, lightwave signal analyzers, and tools for making electronic chips, for example, He adds that shared lab space also encourages cross-disciplinary thinking since it increases interaction among researchers who might not typically meet if labs were separated.

Studio-Concept Teaching Labs

Each floor of the Kim Engineering Building follows the same basic layout. Offices are located around the outside of the building, labs are in the center, and utilities run adjacent to each lab so that changes or upgrades can be made easily and cost-effectively.

First floor research labs are devoted to the following studies: nanotechnology and multi-scale characterization, nano-scale imaging, spectroscopy, macro-molecular studies, small smart systems, space hardware assembly, and virtual reality. The first floor will also include two separate instructional labs for modern materials and thermal fluid sciences.

Second floor research labs include a microelectronics fabrication lab, a multimedia signal processing lab, and an optical communications lab. Within the microelectronics fabrication lab is 12,000 sf of cleanroom space so that researchers can study micro and nano-electronics fabrication in silicon-based microelectronics, ultra-large scale integrated circuits, optoelectronics, and micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS).

Instructional labs on the second level include a microelectronics instructional lab, a learning center fully equipped with the latest in computer equipment, and one additional large computer laboratory which uses a raised floor design to accommodate numerous electrical, data, and communications cables. Third floor research and instructional labs are devoted to bioengineering, biomaterials, and intelligent transportation systems and controls.

A "studio-concept" layout is used for the instructional labs, which Fourney describes as a lab that also includes dedicated space for demonstrations and displays to encourage small-group team learning.

"There are three movable tables and workstations in the center of each instructional lab and the only fixed casework is located around the lab's perimeter," says Fourney. "The demonstration area is designed to be a true multimedia presentation area with the latest in audiovisual equipment including Internet hookup and computer capabilities."

On the main floor, the Kim Engineering Building includes a mini-conferencing center with three 600-sf conference rooms and a large 100-person lecture hall. The focal point on the main floor is a 60' x 60' circular rotunda that will be used to display student projects such as solar or Formula SAE cars. Also included on the main floor is the Innovation Hall of Fame, which honors individuals directly associated with the Clark School (such as alumni) for their innovative contributions to society.

The Building As a Learning Tool

"Since we are an engineering school, the building's own systems serve as very effective teaching tools," says Fourney. "The building itself is designed to be a laboratory where engineering students can see, touch, and interact with the materials and systems they are learning about in the classroom."

Fourney describes the entire building as a "tastefully exposed structure" with many beams and columns purposely left visible for teaching opportunities. This includes exposed roof trusses, which allows students to measure the difference between snow-covered roof loads compared to loads in warmer months.

"The entire building infrastructure, including fluid level and electrical activity, is instrumented so that students can observe and measure various air pressures, temperatures, and flow rates," says Fourney. "We have an arrangement with the University that permits us to occasionally completely shut down the air conditioning systems so that students in controls classes are able to watch display screens within the classrooms that show the building's instrumentation devices as they come back on line and restore equilibrium conditions."

Another unique teaching tool is built into the second-level and third-level utility corridor, which is not open to pedestrian traffic. These corridors have two different types of bridges and these will be fitted with strain gauges and deflection gauges so that students can measure the stresses and deformations when additional load is applied.

The main floor rotunda includes an elevator that will help to teach numerous physics principles. A scale attached to the elevator's floor will not show a person's weight. Rather as the elevator starts and stops, the scale will show acceleration and velocity as a function of time with the equations posted on a nearby plaque.

Fourney adds that the main floor also has a wall where students can take a section apart in order to permit the insertion of different types of insulation materials. And several places throughout the building use color-coded piping to illustrate mechanical lessons.

"Even the glass within our window panes has become a teaching tool for us," says Fourney. "Since we have different types of glass throughout the facility, our students can determine radiation and convection of heat or cold through single- or double-pane windows and those with different tintings."

Lessons Learned

"Similarly, this building project provided our facilities team with valuable lessons in design planning and the construction process," says Fourney. "There are a several things we would do differently if we ever tackle a similar project again."

Fourney explains that although he views faculty input as very important, it is also important to remember that the faculty who participate in the design process may not be the same faculty who occupy the building.

"It is not uncommon for projects to take as long as eight years between the preliminary design phase and construction," says Fourney. "In that same eight-year period there could also be faculty turnover or a lot of changes to the curriculum content."

He adds that many of the change orders issued during the construction of the Kim Engineering facility were the result of working with a large faculty and staff committee in the preliminary design phase. Instead, Fourney recommends compressing the time between committee input and the actual construction start-up to reduce the number of change orders in the final phase.

Fourney, however, points to his team’s planning and allowance for future expansion as an example of something they did extremely well.

"We felt it was very important to consider future expansion capabilities from the onset of this project," says Fourney. "We did this by building flexibility into the existing structure so that changes can be made efficiently and cost-effectively within the built-out spaces, and by pinpointing areas where future structural expansions can easily be added."

By Amy Cammell

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