The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) has broken ground on a new $117.8m Computer Design Research and Learning Center (CDRLC).
Located at 900 W. Taylor St., near UIC’s Memorial Grove, the new 135,000ft2 multi-use building is part of UIC’s campus master plan and supported by the Rebuild Illinois capital plan.
The new building will combine the existing fragmented computer science department at the College of Engineering into a new home and co-locate it with a big cluster of university classrooms.
It will provide required space to accommodate the increasing undergraduate enrolment in computer science at the university along with a collaborative teaching and learning spaces as well as 16,000ft2 of classroom space.
The CDRLC will include 35 labs for engineering fields, a 1,200ft2 robotics lab as well as space for UIC faculty research in computer science.
Collaborative teaching and learning spaces, 15 classrooms, an undergraduate learning and community centre, student affairs office spaces, flexible events room, auditorium and a five-floor day-lit atrium will also be part of the new building.
The project will also include UIC’s Electronic Visualization Laboratory and a new geothermal farm under the Memorial Grove.
The farm will provide heating and cooling for the building, which will be designed to achieve LEED Gold certification.
Slated for completion in 2023, the CDRLC is the third academic building to be built in recent years on the East side of UIC’s campus following the Engineering Innovation Building.
University of Illinois System president Timothy Killeen said: “The computer science department here at UIC is a major driver of success. As you’ve heard, a massive enrollment increase, many underrepresented minorities will find the spark that fires their careers forward, and that’s the key reason for the construction of this fabulous new center, promising a bright future for UIC computer science and building on its rich past and present.”
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Rendering of the Computer Design Research and Learning Center at UIC to be located at 900 W. Taylor St. Credit: The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
