A Gateway to the Future

The first facility in what will be Purdue University’s new Engineering and Polytechnic Gateway Complex, Dudley Hall and Lambertus Hall is one of the largest complexes on campus. The 251,191-square-foot space will house interdisciplinary instructional space, design studios for senior and capstone projects, collaborative space supporting active learning and administrative office space. Built for flexibility, the building will include massive lab spaces that can support to-scale learning experiences ranging from manufacturing production lines to home and commercial construction projects, and from powertrain technology development to human integration processes.

When Purdue University asked BSA to help it address rapid growth in its engineering and polytechnic programs while also providing more experiential-learning spaces, BSA identified an opportunity to maximize the space previously occupied by a pair of outdated campus buildings. By demolishing those buildings and erecting a new facility in their place, BSA more than oubled the usable space on the site and further increased efficiencies by bringing educational labs for both programs into the same building. To ensure the programs and their students wouldn’t lose ground during the construction process, BSA identified temporary on-campus spaces for the programs and helped plan the use of those spaces. To execute both the design of the new space and temporary relocation of the programs, BSA leveraged the power of data analysis and modeling, working to reduce disruptions to the engineering and polytechnic programs and to programs already operating in the buildings where they took temporary residence.