Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Missouri University Selects Builder for Protoplex Building

  • By Matt Jones
  • 01/05/23

Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Mo., recently announced that it has selected the construction manager at risk for its upcoming Protoplex building. PARIC Corp. will spearhead the new facility that will become the anchor of the university’s Manufacturing Technology and Innovation Campus. The Protoplex building comes with an estimated price tag of $53.4 million and will cover 116,000 square feet, according to local news.

A news release reports that the facility will connect federal, state, and industry agencies alongside colleges and universities throughout the state. “The Missouri Protoplex will be the headquarters for a state-wide ecosystem where experts, innovators, small and large businesses, entrepreneurs, educators, and policy-makers develop and adopt the technologies needed to create and sustain manufacturing jobs throughout the state,” according to the press release.

The space is set to include labs and shop spaces, high-bay and double-height labs, meeting and collaboration spaces, storage, administrative space, display spaces, and a lobby area. The university is also partnering with Mackey Mitchell Architects, Perkins&Will Architects, and McClure Engineering. Construction is scheduled to start during summer 2023.

According to the university website, the facility is designed around the manufacturing industry’s four fundamental disciplines: materials, manufacturing & methods; pre-production testing & development; the forge-steel and advanced metallurgy; and cyber-physical systems security, testing & development. The Protoplex building will offer space and equipment across its offices, labs, and research and production facilities for each facet.

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.