New UT engineering center marries cool with ambition
University of Texas officials Thursday will celebrate the grand opening of a project more than 10 years in the making: the Engineering Education and Research Center. Here are five things to know about the new building, which is west of San Jacinto Bouleva
1. The size
It’s big, bold and airy: two ninestory towers clad in limestone with seashell imprints, joined by a soaring central atrium with a glass roof stitched together with metal trusses. The building has 432,671 square feet of space, including offices for 130 faculty and staff members, as well as two levels of glass-walled “maker spaces” offering 3-D printers, metal-milling devices, even sewing machines.
2. The vibe
Call it Industrial Meets Very Cool. Concrete support columns are unadorned, and some overhead runs of piping and wiring are exposed. A spiral staircase rising in the atrium is an eye-catching work of art and engineering. White terrazzo floors are flecked with color, including — you guessed it — burnt orange. Two quiet terraces named for donors Rex Tillerson and his wife, Renda — he’s U.S. secretary of state and former CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp. — overlook drought-tolerant landscaping and Waller Creek.
3. The money
The $313.7 million project is funded by $69 million in gifts and pledges from more than 280 donors (the largest amount ever raised in donations for a UT-Austin building), $105 million in endowment bond proceeds allocated by the UT System Board of Regents and the balance in bond debt assumed by the campus. The university tried but failed to secure $95 million in bond money from the Legislature.
4. The collaboration
Extensive use of glass and open space reflect a running theme of students working together on projects. There are spaces for students to study, socialize and get career advice. The Cockrell School of Engineering’s library is in the building, and it is also the new home of the electrical and computer engineering department, the school’s largest department. The sense of community is underscored by a skybridge in the atrium that links the north and south towers, as well as by five outdoor walkways connecting upper floors in the towers.
5. The aspiration
The building is central to UT’s effort to vault the Cockrell school, with more than 8,000 students enrolled in 11 undergraduate and 13 graduate programs, “from its current Top 10 status nationally to the very top of engineering programs nationally,” as a Board of Regents document put it last year. The building replaces the Engineering Science Building, a half-century-old structure with cramped rooms, a weak ventilation system that limited computer capacity and classrooms with chairs bolted to the floor, hindering project work.