LSU Breaks Ground On $110M Engineering Complex

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Rendering of LSU’s new engineering complex.

Louisiana State University started work last month on the $110 million renovation of Patrick F. Taylor Hall and construction of a chemical engineering addition. Once finished, the expanded facility is expected to be one of the largest free-standing engineering buildings in the United States.

Governor Bobby Jindal attended the ground-breaking ceremony together with LSU President and Chancellor F. King Alexander, LSU College of Engineering Dean Rick Koubek and many other honored guests.

The new engineering complex will help increase the total amount of academic space for the LSU College of Engineering to more than 460,000 square feet.  It will include modern laboratory space, a 250-seat auditorium, almost 110,000 square feet of classrooms, a new student commons area, updated graduate student space, an academic support center, a dedicated capstone project space, and new labs. The renovated Patrick F. Taylor Hall will be connected to the chemical engineering addition by a continuous atrium. This will allow students and visitors to observe teaching and research projects in action.

Governor Jindal’s administration will support $55 million in capital outlay funding for the project. The remaining funds will be covered by private donations. More than 500 individual and corporate donors helped make the project possible.

“This is a great day for LSU and for our entire state. Since 2008, we have invested more than $700 million for critical higher education investments, including more than $150 million at LSU and in the Baton Rouge research community. We made this commitment to improve learning environments for students because we know our higher education system is critical in helping us ensure that we have a skilled workforce in Louisiana. This new engineering complex is a great example of one of these investments because not only will it help us train our students for the great engineering and computer science careers in our state, it will also meet the workforce demands of our growing economy as more companies invest in Louisiana and create more jobs in the years ahead,” Governor Bobby Jindal said in a statement for the press.

The new complex is designed by architectural firms Coleman Partners and Perkins+Will. It is scheduled for completion in 2017.

Photo credit: LSU