Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

HGA Completes STEM Building at Lehigh University

  • By Matt Jones
  • 10/13/22

Design firm HGA recently finished construction on a new STEM-oriented building for Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn. The Health | Science | Technology (HST) building is located in the northeast corner of campus and plays home to the university’s new College of Health, according to a press release. It will offer research space for public health, supports chemistry, materials science and biological science, among other subjects.

Lehigh University Health | Science | Technology Building
Photos courtesy of HGA

The five-story building offers amenities like open laboratories that can accommodate increasing and decreasing research groups. Open lab zones include wet programming for Energy & Batteries, Functional Materials & Devices, the BioHealth Initiative, and the College of Health, the news release reports. It also features shared meeting spaces, integrated work spaces, and several open areas designed to foster collaboration across disciplines and among undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff alike.

The building covers 189,000 square feet and offers easily reconfigurable workspaces, including the ability to move tables with overhead gas lines. Faculty offices are clustered together in an open office plan to create loosely defined boundaries while still allowing for collaboration.

Lehigh University Health | Science | Technology Building

Sustainability initiatives include a building sunscreen mounted along the building’s south façade to maximize natural light and visibility while minimizing glare. The building is also targeting a LEED v4 Gold Certification with an emphasis on energy and water efficiency. “The building employs numerous energy conservation measures, including an improved building envelope, chilled beams, natural-temperature supply air design, heat shift chillers, high efficiency condensing boilers, and ample natural light,” according to the news release.

Lehigh University Health | Science | Technology Building

About the Author

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

Featured

  • GeoCam and UCLA: Modernizing Campus Accessibility Mapping

    In early 2025, UCLA partnered with GeoCam to capture and modernize its pedestrian infrastructure data. The goal was ambitious but clear: to produce a high-accuracy, imagery-backed digital map of every sidewalk, pathway, ramp, and ADA-related feature on UCLA’s 419-acre campus.

  • Classical building columns display digital data streams

    The Campus Nervous System: Why Facilities Risk Is Now a Leadership Issue in Higher Education

    Facility performance now intersects with safety, compliance, on-campus experience, institutional reputation, and financial resilience. That places it firmly on the leadership agenda.

  • Washington State District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    Cheney School District No. 360 in Spokane County, Wash., recently announced that construction has begun on a new elementary school, according to local news. The district held a groundbreaking ceremony on May 18 in Airway Heights for the yet-to-be-named school, which is scheduled to open in fall 2027.

  • Year-Round Schools Require Year-Round Indoor Air Quality Planning

    While many schools are out for the summer, year-round schools follow a more “balanced” schedule with shorter, more frequent breaks spaced throughout the school year. Even though this offers educational benefits, these facilities have less downtime for building maintenance. This can become an issue when facilities managers overlook the importance of routine HVAC maintenance and air duct cleaning services.