Within its five floors, the building houses many of the extensive academic and research-intensive computer disciplines that are the hallmarks of what became known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It brings together several student services, previously spread across campus, creating the Student Academic Services Centre: a “one-stop shop” for students looking for everything from academic advising to career planning.
The building also provides a convenient and accessible link between the main campus, which is located atop Boynton Hill, and the lower campus, particularly student housing in the eastern part of the campus and the academic and research programs in Gateway Park. In addition, Unity Hall, through its project-based academic programs and cutting-edge research activities aimed at addressing complex global issues and preparing students for careers that may not yet exist, will help the university forge strong relationships with partners in industry, academia, and government – In the United States and around the world.
“Unity Hall, one of the most important buildings on WPI’s growing campus, represents a historic commitment by this university to a purpose-driven future of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and research catering to the needs of our students and the larger WPI community,” WPI President Laurie Leshin.
“This remarkable building is also a reflection of the growing importance of collaboration in this increasingly interconnected and interconnected world, where the nature of work and workforce needs are changing in profound and unexpected ways. To prepare students for future excellence where the majority of professions have not yet been invented and to help our researchers tackle problems across a range of Emerging disciplines, we need to be able to bring together experiences, ideas and innovation in new and pioneering combinations. This is the central idea embodied in Unity Hall.”
“Unity Hall, one of the most important buildings on WPI’s growing campus, represents a historic commitment from this university to a purpose-driven future of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and research that meets the needs of our students and the larger WPI community.” – Laurie Lichen
The new building has received significant philanthropic support from alumni, trustees and friends, including foundations and trusts. In total, WPI received more than $19 million from 419 donors for the new building, all to support Beyond This Towers: The Campaign for WPI, the university’s $500 million campaign. These commitments include a $5 million pledge from the Alden Trust in the form of the Alden Trust Challenge. The fund will honor the pledge when WPI raises $20 million from alumni and trustees; Just over $13 million has been raised to take on the challenge so far. Commitments to the new building also include commitments for alumni to honor Dean van Alsten’s legacy at the new Integrated Student Academic Services Centre.
Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution
WPI was born in the midst of the First Industrial Revolution, which saw the mechanization of industry and transportation, and its faculty, students and alumni made pivotal contributions to the Second (Electric) and Third (Computer) Industrial Revolutions. Building on the telecommunications that connect billions of smart devices, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is shaping advances in a number of interdisciplinary branches of cutting-edge computational sciences and promoting innovative and far-reaching solutions to problems in areas such as healthcare, energy, transportation and the built environment.
At Unity Hall, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be represented by laboratories, collaboration spaces, and faculty offices for six interdisciplinary programs: architecture, bioinformatics and computational biology, data science, interactive media and game development, learning science and technology, and robotics engineering. These majors combine advances in computation, science, and engineering to address pressing global issues through interdisciplinary research and WPI’s distinctive project-based approach to education.
“Unity Hall embodies a number of ideas that are at the core of WPI’s approach to education and research,” says Winston “Wole” Soboyejo, Senior Vice President and Dean. “First, it encapsulates the practical application of knowledge for the common good that underpins our ground-breaking academic program and which also integrates our purpose-based research and project work. Second, it exemplifies the spirit of collaboration and interdisciplinary work that can be found throughout the campus. In this exciting new facility. Impressive and beautiful, these hallmarks of the WPI experience will come together as students, faculty, and staff help bring to life the ideas, innovations, and technology that will transform and improve our world.”
Robotics engineering, a field that integrates computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering, is moving some of its research facilities from 85 Prescott Street to Unity Hall. (It will maintain its teaching laboratories in Atwater Kent Laboratories and the Innovation Studio.) The department’s faculty and student research staff will work in two spacious laboratories and project space on the first and second levels of the new building.
Research in bioinformatics, computational biology, data science, and learning science and technology will move from the Fuller Laboratories and Salisbury Laboratories buildings to new lab spaces on the third level. Architecture, interactive media, and game development will all get a new studio and lab space on the second level.
“In this impressive and beautiful new facility, these hallmarks of the WPI experience will come together as students, faculty, and staff help bring to life the ideas, innovations, and technology that will transform and improve our world.” -Winston “Wole” Soboyejo
The building will also house a new semiconductor security research center recently funded by a $1 million grant from the Massachusetts Collaborative Research and Matched Development Grant Program. The new center, which includes the Northeast’s first high-sensitivity, high-resolution semiconductor analysis system, will focus on semiconductor and device security essential to key innovation industries.
In addition to dedicated laboratories, offices, and meeting spaces, Unity Hall will feature several common spaces, including a lab, lounges, conference rooms, collaboration areas, and a first-level workshop that includes a 3D printing facility and a paint room. Five new classrooms on the fourth and fifth levels, all with flexible seating designed to facilitate active learning and project work within the classroom, will significantly expand the teaching facilities on campus.
Serving students’ needs
Visitors entering the unit hall on the fifth (top) level will encounter the new Student Academic Services Center, where students will find, all in one place, the Access Services Office, Academic Advising Office, Career Development Center, and the Registered Office – formerly located in two buildings in different parts from the university campus. The new center is designed to make it easier for students to take advantage of a range of academic services and resources that can help them navigate their journey through WPI and beyond, according to Philip Clay, senior vice president for student affairs.
“This new center is designed to enhance the success of our students and provide them with convenient access to these important resources,” Clay says. “Here, in one place, they can interact with professionals dedicated to helping them get the most out of their educational program and opportunities at WPI, who can direct them to the information and assistance they need to get the most out of their time on campus, and who can help them with their setting their sights on the many ways they can utilize their education to make the world a better place in their careers after graduation.”
“Here, in one place, they can interact with professionals who are dedicated to helping them get the most out of their educational program and the opportunities they have at WPI.” – Philip Clay
In addition to offices, reception areas, meeting spaces, and “gatherings,” the new center includes a flexible testing control room, which is part of the Office of Accessibility Services’ mission to provide accommodations for students who may need alternate or other test-based accommodations and to ensure that all A student has the opportunity to realize their fullest potential.
A commitment to sustainability
Unity Hall was built by Consigli Construction Co., Ltd. In Milford, Massachusetts, with project management services by KVA Boston, it is the newest WPI building designed to fulfill the university’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship. In fact, the building is on track to obtain LEED gold status, according to Eric Petty, vice president of campus planning and facilities. (Developed by the US Green Building Council, LEED certification provides a framework for green building design, construction, operations, and performance.)
“Unity Hall includes the latest energy efficiency and water conservation systems, as well as design features to take full advantage of natural light,” says Petty. “The building’s ventilation system provides all fresh air to the spaces without recirculation, and the building’s air tests have passed stringent LEED requirements for indoor air quality. Materials have been carefully selected to include recycled content and construction methods are designed to minimize waste where possible. Flexibly and efficiently design spaces in the building to maximize their use and to contain the overall volume of the building, as much as possible.”
Petty says the Unity Hall location required the removal of several mature oaks. The timber harvested from these trees was milled and used in many of the creative feature walls, in furniture, and in the building’s identification signs. The roof of the building is designed to accommodate solar photovoltaic panels that generate renewable energy. Their installation will be completed under a separate power contract.
In keeping with the building’s social justice theme, and as a commitment to the sustainability of the local economy and community, Beatty adds “targets have been set and exceeded to employ a large number of women and other minorities into the project’s construction workforce.”