Illinois e-News Release

March 23, 2023                                                                                          Lauren Grenlund

                                                                                                                   [email protected]

Chicago – The final piece of structural steel beam will be placed on the Computer, Design, Research, and Learning Center (CDRLC) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) on March 29 at 2:00 p.m. The approximately $125 million facility consolidates the computer science department at the College of Engineering in a new home and co-locates it with university classrooms at the east campus.

The CDRLC is currently 50% complete, with an anticipated substantial completion set for early 2024. The Illinois Capital Development Board (CDB) is overseeing the project’s design and construction in accordance with the protocol for state-appropriated projects.

More than 1,200 tons of structural steel framing, connections, and support have been placed. The CDRLC will boast approximately 31,000 square feet of architectural precast concrete panels with 8,800 square feet of inset terra cotta panels to complement the organic campus setting near the Harry W. Peace Memorial Grove. The five-story building – with a daylight atrium – requires more than 29,000 square feet of exterior glazed windows, curtainwall, and skylights to complete the modern design.

Building on UIC’s successes with geo-thermal energy resources, the project will include a new geo-thermal farm beneath Memorial Grove that will assist with sustainable heating and cooling of the building. The building has been designed to achieve LEED Gold certification. Multi-panel Photovoltaic (PVC) arrays located atop primary roof areas and at lower terraces will be integrated with building electrical systems to assist with the building’s sustainable energy needs.

Once completed, the new 135,000 square foot technology hub will host classrooms, faculty and staff offices, collaboration and laboratory spaces, auditorium, events room, and a community center. It will also house UIC’s Electronic Visualization Laboratory, an internationally renowned interdisciplinary research lab.

The historic Rebuild Illinois capital plan passed with bipartisan super-majorities and will invest $45 billion in roads, bridges, railways, universities, early childhood centers, and state facilities like the new crime lab and veterans’ homes, creating and supporting an estimated 540,000 jobs over the life of the six-year plan and revitalizing local economies across the state.