Providence, RI Shawmut Design and Construction joined Brown University, KieranTimberlake, and members of the community for a dedication ceremony of the university’s new Engineering Research Center, which was completed in October of 2017.
The new three-story, 80,000 s/f research building, broke ground in October of 2015 and was completed months ahead of schedule due to innovative delivery methods such as integrated project delivery and lean construction, the first of its kind at Brown. The new building is home to specialized research facilities for nanomaterials, photonics, and environmental science, and is designed to expand research in renewable energy, advanced materials, and other areas. In total, more than 100 faculty, research associates, undergraduate, and graduate students will work within the ERC that is intended to enable the kind of interdisciplinary research for which Brown is known.
“Through our longstanding partnership with Brown University, and with proper planning and preparation, we created an innovative new research space to meet the growing needs of Brown’s School of Engineering,” said Ron Simoneau, vice president at Shawmut Design and Construction. “At the same time, were able to fuse the disparate assembly of earlier structures into a physically integrated engineering facility that provides space to expand and advance the school’s research and instructional capacity.”
“This building is a statement about the importance of engineering at Brown and also in the world at large,” Brown University president Christina Paxson said. “We need to blend engineering with a keen appreciation and understanding of the humanities, ethics, and social sciences. I think that Brown can do this better than anyone. And I’m very excited to see the work that takes place here.”
Designed by KieranTimberlake, the $88 million project is tracking LEED Gold Certification with an energy and performance goal of 25% better than the minimum efficiency and performance criteria established in the Rhode Island-adopted International Energy Conservation Code.