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Gonzaga breaks ground on $56 million science and engineering building

Gonzaga University leaders, including President Thayne McCulloh, fourth from right, lift shovels during a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, for the school’s planned Integrated Science and Engineering Facility. (Chad Sokol / The Spokesman-Review)
By Chad Sokol chadso@spokesman.com(509) 459-5047

Anticipating growth in the school’s science and engineering programs, Gonzaga University leaders held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for a $56 million construction project that will connect several buildings on campus.

The 82,000-square-foot Integrated Science and Engineering Facility, scheduled to open by fall 2021, will include 12 teaching laboratories, four research labs, classrooms, faculty offices and a “collaboration studio,” according to Gonzaga.

Situated on a hillside overlooking the school’s soccer fields, the building will connect to the PACCAR Center for Applied Science, which opened in 2009, and a skywalk will link it to the chemistry and biology departments in Hughes Hall.

Gonzaga says applications for its science, technology, engineering and math programs have doubled in the past nine years.

Speaking at Thursday’s ceremony, Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh said students and faculty in those fields “require new and different spaces in order to remain contemporary in their fields, and to support expansion in these disciplines.”

Gonzaga University says its planned 82,000-square-foot Integrated Science and Engineering Facility, scheduled to open by fall 2021, will include 12 teaching laboratories, four research labs, classrooms, faculty offices and a “collaboration studio.”
Gonzaga University says its planned 82,000-square-foot Integrated Science and Engineering Facility, scheduled to open by fall 2021, will include 12 teaching laboratories, four research labs, classrooms, faculty offices and a “collaboration studio.”

Provost Deena Gonzalez said the building “has the potential to help expand our students’ professional networks and to provide opportunities for them to connect with industry partners and with potential employers during the entire process of their education on campus.”

Architects for the project include Portland-based SRG Partnership Inc., Spokane-based Integrus Architecture and San Diego-based Research Facilities Design. The contractor for the project is Spokane-based Walker Construction.