Higher education
We plan, design, manage and build successful educational facility programs and projects founded on the latest thinking in educational planning, understanding of our clients’ communities and experience in successful project delivery.
CONTENTS
University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA, PA
LEED Gold Certified
Dietrich Hall, designed by McKim, Mead & White Architects, was completed in 1952. The existing building had become technologically and pedagogically outdated. The new addition here, along with renovation of the existing building, has helped to create a new entry plaza from 37th Street Walk and to re-organize the interior circulation.
The addition is anchored by twin 320-seat tiered classrooms that replaced the old ones. Above the classrooms are 3 floors of faculty offices.
Many massing options were studied during the course of the design. The building presented here is the synthesis of that effort that adds to the historical structure without overwhelming it, as well as engaging it with sympathetic proportions and materiality.
University of Dallas
DALLAS, TX
We provided facility programming and full A/E design services for the new Student Services Building (SSB) addition. The final program for the free standing building, incorporates a student-focused environment that includes the functions and spaces identified as high priorities by both the student organizations and student services staff. These include seminar rooms, a 550-seat auditorium, conference spaces, student organization offices, classrooms, workrooms and state-of-the-art digital and communication technology.
University of Austin, Gary L. Thomas Building
AUSTIN, TX
LEED v4 BD+C Platinum Certified
The EEB anchors the Texas Engineering corridor with 184,300 SF dedicated to multidisciplinary energy research. Jacobs envisioned a transformative space where research and teaching converge seamlessly. Flexible labs, interactive classrooms and collaborative hubs foster groundbreaking solutions in energy science. Teaching and research spaces are organized around a central corridor, promoting interdisciplinary engagement. The EEB serves as a catalyst for global energy advancements, preparing future engineers to tackle society’s most pressing challenges.
Design Architect Ennead
University of Austin, EERC
AUSTIN, TX
LEED v4 BD+C Platinum Certified
The Jacobs+Ennead team was selected to provide full service design for the UT Austin Engineering Education and Research Center (EERC). The new $310 million (total project cost) facility will provide approximately 457,500 gross square feet of education and research space for the Cockrell School of Engineering at UT Austin. The EERC replaces the obsolete Engineering Science Building with a new and iconic building that will immediately become the core of the entire UT Engineering precinct. As the first and highest-priority project in the Cockrell School of Engineering Strategic Master Plan, the EERC is central to achieving the Cockrell School’s vision to become a global center for technology innovation, engineering education and entrepreneurship.
The EERC will be the Cockrell School’s flagship facility, providing a full complement of academic and research functions for the school while serving as the nucleus for all engineering undergraduate and graduate student services. With high-profile glass-walled labs, a soaring atrium and a host of innovative collaboration spaces at a variety of scales, the EERC is designed to attract the best and brightest students and the most talented and experienced faculty to the University of Texas.
Design Architect Ennead
University of Texas, SDS and NSCC
AUSTIN, TX
LEED Gold Certified
The UTSA School of Data Science and National Security Collaboration Center (SDS/NSCC) is a transformative 165,000 GSF facility completed in February 2023. Jacobs played a key role on the Design-Build team, delivering full architecture, engineering and construction administration services for this landmark project in downtown San Antonio.
The flagship building brings together 84,500 SF of classroom, laboratory and research space to support the School of Data Science, housing more than 70 leading faculty in cybersecurity, cloud computing, data analytics and artificial intelligence. By unifying talent under one roof, the facility enables powerful collaboration between academia, government and industry, and provides community partners with access to UTSA’s nationally recognized programs and top-tier research talent.
The project also includes a secure, segregated data center dedicated to research and instructional use and 72,000 SF of advanced laboratories and innovation space for the National Security Collaboration Center, featuring two secure suites for federal agency partners. Together, these environments form a cutting-edge hub for interdisciplinary innovation in forensics, machine learning, visualization and national security—cementing UTSA’s role as a critical engine for knowledge, talent and impact in the digital age.
Design Architect Overland
Temple University Business School
PHILADELPHIA, PA
LEED Gold Certified
To accommodate its growth, Temple University’s Fox School of Business and Management engaged Jacobs to expand and improve it facilities on Temple’s main campus in Philadelphia. We are providing architectural, interior and engineering design for renovations and exterior upgrades for to 1810 Liacouras Walk and Speakman Hall.
Jefferson Ronson Applied Sciences Center
PHILADELPHIA, PA
LEED Gold Certified
A new health science building is projected to break ground this fall and will include a gross anatomy lab, health technology and health innovation labs and allied health facilities. The blueprint for the three-floor structure was expanded upon the announcement of the integration of Philadelphia University with the medical studies at Thomas Jefferson University. This will mark the first collective construction between the two universities that have become Jefferson.
University of Colorado
AURORA, CO
Research Building 2 of the University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center is a 507,000 SF (46,500 SM), 12 story building that defines, in concert with an academic office structure to the south, the western edge of a four acre (1 6-hectare) landscaped courtyard Linked by second floor bridges that form a public grand promenade and sheltered by arcades al grade, the four buildings that delimit this Quadrangle are organized to facilitate collaboration and arc designed to reinforce the orchestrated dialogue between architecture and landscape architecture.
The building Is primarily planned around a prototypical laboratory environment accompanied by adjacent flexible support space. These clements constitute the western two thirds of each floor, with office areas occupying a parallel zone to the east. Providing a measure of flexibility on each floor, the north and south laboratory zones are programmed to operate either as labs or offices, such need being dictated by the specific department.
The architectural character has been greatly informed by both the immediate context and regional considerations. Brick, sympathetic to existing structures and the color of the earth, encases the laboratory areas; the framed window punctuations provide expansive views of the Rocky Mountains while sheltering the occupants from the western sun. The offices exist behind a highly articulated, clear and silk screened, high performance curtain wall that has been detailed as threo overlapping planes, each of which evolve as they progress from north to south. Within the glass facade, internal events, lnd udmg the two-story interaction areas, are telegraphed to the outside.
While endeavoring to be a testament to the virtues of modern architecture and an expression of the technology within, the design of Research Building 2 Is, above all else, about the creation of an environment contributory to scientific discovery.
Design Architect Fentress
University of Illinois, Discovery Partners Institute
CHICAGO, IL
Registered and targeting LEED Gold Certification
Positioned at the cornerstone of “The 78”, the newest innovation hub in downtown Chicago, this project aims to attract companies for a state-of-the-art campus, fostering tech talent, applied research and strengthening the tech ecosystem. Situated at the southern edge of the development, this initial 1-acre site will anchor the district and the headquarters building for the DPI will initiate the transformation and start the connection between the neighborhoods of the South Loop and Chinatown.
The DPI project, which was awarded through a competitive process, was truly a collaborative effort of many partners led by Jacobs as the Executive Architect in concert with OMA Architects.
The design process considered not only key factors such as the client's need of programs and our design partner's standard of aesthetics, but it also embraces Jacob's BeyondZero Values including building performance and resiliency, sustainability, risk mitigation for both construction phase and future usage and innovative use of software for design development.
The 8-story oval-shaped building integrates a high-performance glazed curtain wall and opaque metal cladding systems showcasing the vibrancy of the DPI program, which houses various labs, flexible offices, classrooms, an auditorium, a café and exhibition spaces across approximately 260,000 square feet.
The project commenced construction but was subsequently cancelled by the University, resulting in it not being built.
Design Architect OMA Architects
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Cities & Places: Buildings
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