Virginia Western Community College

The centrally located building was designed through an intense, iterative process built on a strong and thorough programmatic foundation with deliberate owner involvement.

Programs include mechatronics, fabrication, engineering, biology, chemistry, biotechnology, physics and mathematics. The flexible classrooms and labs encourage hands-on learning to help students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Learning and collaboration spaces are arranged around a centralized student path, exemplifying learning on display.

New cutting-edge equipment includes:

• Phase contrast fluorescence microscope (detects the presence and location of materials such as protein in relation to other structures in a cell or tissue)
• Multiphoton confocal microscope (provides high-resolution fluorescent imaging of cellular processes and generates 3D images)
• Scanning electron microscope (provides 250 to 500 times the magnification of light microscopes to allow visualization at the nanometer level)
• Four new spectrometers (used in analytical chemistry to identify and characterize materials and molecules)
• Process control units
• 5-axis CNC milling machine
• 24-foot water flume
• Collaborative robot (designed to safely work with human operators and can be taught new processes and tasks)