University of Texas Arlington - Science & Engineering Innovation & Research Building

Built with a goal of promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, the Science & Engineering Innovation & Research (SEIR) accommodates research in engineering, science, nursing, kinesiology, and public health. Without all future occupants known, UTA launched the project with a goal of advancing its life science presence as well as supporting the shortage of large traditional classrooms on campus.

Located on "Arlington Walk", the north south spine forms the primary pedestrian circulation on campus. The building site was formerly a large parking lot that serves the large commuter campus population. With additional parking south of the building, the building leveraged this "gateway to campus" component to showcase research and potentially lure students into the life science.

Organized around the Arlington walk the building has a great hall that serves as a pre-function area for four large classrooms that serve up to 900 students. The hall allows for informal gathering, study spaces, access to the research wing of the building, and features a small café at the ground floor. Facing the hall, a large interior curtainwall showcases research on 4 levels.

The research facilities in the building include a clinical research suite with a separate exterior entrance, a fume hood intensive chemistry core lab, and highly flexible labs organized in neighborhoods on the upper floors. One floor was partially fit out as dry computational lab with the ability to be flipped to wet labs if needed.

In a highly effective layout, the offices were pulled inboard of the exterior wall to allow natural daylight to flood the corridors and provide informal meeting and instruction spaces. Offices have relights to provide daylight and views. The additional benefit of this layout, encourages office occupants to leave doors open, increasing a sense of collaboration and interaction throughout the facility.

The basement labs used for shared core labs, have higher floor to floor heights and greater vibration controls.

The building is a complete concrete structure with exposed components. The great hall and exterior portico includes 24 inch diameter, 48 foot tall exposed concrete columns, and the large classrooms required 80 foot post tensioned girders to support the upper floor.

The exterior expression is glass and aluminum curtainwall and a local limestone base. White oak, terrazzo, and painted wall board form the primary interior expression.