CU Denver Selects Design Firm for New STEM Building

The University of Colorado Denver recently selected architecture firm SmithGroup to design its new engineering, design and computing building. The project is one of the major elements of CU Denver’s 2030 Strategic Plan and will serve as the focal point of the university’s new downtown innovation district, according to a news release. It will provide research space for topics like artificial intelligence, robotics and cybersecurity in verticals like health, construction, urban planning, manufacturing and space.

“This is essential as technology is changing faster than ever, and industry is asking engineers to do new types of work that require increased creativity, teamwork, and collaboration across disciplines,” said Martin Dunn, Dean of the College of Engineering, Design and Computing.

SmithGroup will put on a series of town halls to involve the campus and larger community in the design process, as well as to share updates and get feedback. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year and finish before the beginning of the fall 2024 semester.

“SmithGroup is one of the nation’s leaders in the higher education space,” said CU Denver Campus Architect Jered Minter. “They demonstrated an overwhelming amount of direct experience designing higher education engineering laboratories and spaces throughout the country.”

SmithGroup will serve as the design architect, architect of record and the MEP engineer for the project. The university is also partnering with Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers for structural engineering and McCarthy Building Companies as the general contractor and construction manager.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Fargo, N.D., Starts Construction on Consolidated Elementary School

    Fargo Public Schools in Fargo, N.D., recently announced the beginning of construction on a new elementary school, according to a news release. The district partnered with ICON Architectural Group and Kraus-Anderson Construction on the new Horace Mann Elementary School.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • ZeroEyes, Academic Innovators Partner to Provide Safety Solutions

    ZeroEyes, which produces a multi-analytics weapons detection and threat intelligence platform, recently announced a partnership with Academic Innovators, according to a news release.

  • Texas Recruitment

    Texas Recruitment

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The University of Texas at Austin's Texas Recruitment has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of Renovation.