Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

University of Arizona Breaks Ground on $85M Research Facility

  • By Matt Jones
  • 07/22/21

The University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., recently broke ground on a new Applied Research Building. The three-story, 89,000-square-foot facility will bring together eight departments from four colleges (the College of Engineering, the College of Science, the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences and the College of Medicine-Tucson) for a cost of $85 million. The building is expected to open to students by spring 2023.

Amenities within the facility will include a thermal vacuum chamber to simulate space environmental conditions, an anechoic chamber to absorb reflections and electromagnetic waves to test antennas, a high bay lab for high-altitude balloons, and a dynamic testing lab for large objects. The building will not include classroom space, but undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to use the building for research purposes.

“The co-location of multiple, interrelated research programs will create a hub that enables new opportunities for the Fourth Industrial Revolution research that will help the university to recruit and retain recognized faculty, as well as increase federal and industry funding,” said University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins. “The ARB will focus on expanding several areas of research that have resulted in the university being ranked among the top 100 research institutions in the world.”

The facility will provide space for research projects like nanosatellites that lessen the cost of going to space; the UA Imaging Technology Laboratory, featuring advanced sensors for astronomy research, satellite images, and chemical analysis; 3D printing facilities for aerospace parts; and stratospheric balloons for use on earth and, potentially, other planets.

“From the College of Engineering’s perspective, the timing of this building is ideal,” said David Hahn, dean of the College of Engineering. “As we compete with other top universities for talent, like faculty talent and student talent, it’s this type of facility that will allow us to improve those efforts and, in fact, beat out other universities for the very best students and the very best faculty.”

The university is partnering with the McCarthy Building Companies and SmithGroup construction firms for design and construction. The project will also entail realigning the nearby Highland Underpass.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.

  • Q&A: How to Prevent Kitchen Grease Fires in Commercial Kitchens

    School cafeterias and university dining halls serve thousands of meals daily, relying on high-heat equipment like fryers, grills, and ovens. While these operations keep students fed, they also generate significant grease-laden vapors. Without proper controls, this grease becomes a silent fire threat. As a certified exhaust cleaning specialist and business coach who has helped hundreds of institutional facilities achieve NFPA 96 compliance, I emphasize that proactive grease management isn’t optional; it’s a core fire/life safety practice.

  • Tomball ISD Opens New Tomball West High School

    Tomball Independent School District in Tomball, Texas, recently celebrated the official opening of Tomball West High School, the district's third comprehensive high school, with a community ribbon-cutting ceremony, according to a district news release.