Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

University of Utah to Expand Applied Sciences Building

  • By Matt Jones
  • 10/06/22

The University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, is set to begin construction on renovations and additions to its applied sciences building. Work will start in early October and consist of renovating 40,000 square feet inside the William Stewart Building for Applied Sciences, as well as building a 100,000-square-foot addition on the building’s west side.

The building will play home to the Departments of Physics & Astronomy and Atmospheric Sciences, according to a news release, uniting students and faculty of aerospace, biotechnology, semiconductor technology, data science, air quality, and hazardous weather forecasting under one roof.

A news release reports that the new facility will offer a 56-percent increase in space for experimental and computer labs. The project comes with a price tag of about $84.6 million; of that, $60 million has been requested from the state, and the remainder will come from private funding. The university has already received donor commitments totaling $11 million.

One major impetus of the historic building’s renovation is the rising cost of maintenance issues, according to the university website. “[Maintenance] costs will only escalate and still barely stay ahead of their failing systems. The current state of these aging facilities and failing infrastructure places them in immediate crisis,” according to a 2018 Feasibility Study.

The university is partnering with DFCM Construction on the building’s construction. The new facility is scheduled to open its doors to students in August 2024.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Girl Sitting at Library Desk, Using Laptop

    How Campus Design Shapes the Finals Week Experience

    Academic performance is not just about preparation. It is closely tied to how students manage stress, maintain their energy, and shift between work and recovery modes. Much of that is influenced, directly or indirectly, by design.

  • William Penn Charter School

    Richard A. Balderston OPC’69 Lower School

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The Richard A. Balderston OPC’69 Lower School has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of New Construction.

  • Phoenix School District Breaks Ground on New Prep Academy

    The Creighton Elementary School District near Phoenix, Ariz., recently broke ground on a campus replacement for Biltmore Preparatory Academy, according to a news release. The new space will allow the school to expand its enrollment by 50 percent for K–8 students and accommodate modern, collaborative learning styles.

  • Colorado School District Breaks Ground on Unified PK–12 Campus

    The Haxtun School District No. Re-2J in Haxtun, Colo., recently announced that ground has been broken on a renovation/addition project that will unite its two schools, Haxtun Elementary and Haxtun Jr/Sr High School, according to a news release.