CBCTC trades to construct new CWRU facility

Artist rendering of the Case Western Reserve University Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering building.

Affiliated members of the Cleveland Building Trades will soon begin construction of the first research facility built in over two decades at Case Western Reserve University.

The $300 million project to build the university’s Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) will fill a need brought to light in the 2015 CWRU Master Plan, which specifically recommended a new shared research space for science and engineering.

Work is set to soon on the project located between the Case Quade and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The new five-story building will include wet labs, dry labs and other research space.

“Research and community engagement are two of the university’s highest priorities,” said CWRU President Eric Kaler for the university’s e-newsletter, The Daily. “This initiative represents an unprecedented step forward in both areas. It will be transformative.”

A departure from earlier higher education practices of organizing infrastructure by departments, the ISEB will offer space for researchers with complimentary expertise to work together to solve complex challenges.

It is designed to offer adaptable and flexible research environments with strategically placed informal and formal spaces. The intent is to remove physical barriers to inspire users to interact and work together across disciplines.

For example, projects could include developing industrial-scale batteries for the electrical grid, researching new green processes for sustainable manufacturing, studying pathogens that proliferate in air conditioning systems, developing new types of prosthetics and more.

The Plain Dealer reported the ISEB will help the university win more grants, boost its rankings and help grow the regional economy.

Kaler told The Plain Dealer this is the biggest investment since he came to Case from the University of Minnesota in 2019. The next closest project is the $110 million construction of two new dorms in its South Residential Village.

“We need to grow our research activities outside of medicine; they’ve been pretty stagnant for the past 15 years or so, and that’s not where we want to be,’’ Kaler said. “We haven’t built a new laboratory building outside of medicine in decades.”

HGA, a national architecture firm with extensive experience in higher education, is the lead architect. A post on the firm’s website identifies the primary goal of the project to create an environment that fosters scientific breakthroughs to address problems faced by individuals and society.

The new building will provide a bright windowed façade and a landscaped entryway to make it more welcoming. Discovery Builders, a Joint Venture between Turner Construction Company, Adrian

Maldonado & Associates, Inc., Next Generation Construction and The AKA Team, is the general contractor.

The 189,000-square-foot building is expected to be completed in 2026 – the 200th anniversary of the founding of the first institution that went on to become Case Western Reserve