Virginia Western Community College

STEM Building

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)

Location

Roanoke, Virginia

Size

72,000 GSF

Services

Lab programming, planning and design, document review

Architect

SFCS