Virginia Commonwealth University
Annual Report 2020-2021

VCU’s campus landscape is shifting and growing, with several new buildings on the horizon that prioritize cross-disciplinary collaboration and engagement with the city of Richmond.

In the last year, VCU opened a new Engineering Research Building, began construction of a science, technology, engineering and math building, and entered the design phase of an arts and innovation building. The three buildings are among dozens of changes planned for the coming decade as part of the ONE VCU Master Plan. This framework aligns VCU’s physical environment with the VCU strategic plan, Quest 2025: Together We Transform, and the VCU Health System strategic plan, Vision by Design. It is the first master plan in VCU’s history to set a unified vision for all VCU properties, and is guided by six principles: student success, patient experience, program synergies, placemaking, mobility and safety, and unifying the campus.

“The ONE VCU Master Plan recommends exciting, innovative and collaborative new spaces that will continue to make VCU prominent nationally and connect us to each other and to the city of Richmond,” said Meredith Weiss, Ph.D., the university’s vice president for administration when the master plan was approved in March 2019. “Putting all the pieces together enables us to realize this vision of ONE VCU — an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary, inclusive, welcoming, safe and preeminent academic and health care environment for all.”

Engineering Research Building

The College of Engineering officially opened the doors of its Engineering Research Building in February 2021, marking a major milestone in the college’s growth in research and workforce development programs. The four-story, 133,000-square-foot facility significantly expands the college’s laboratory capacity for advanced research. It also supports economic development initiatives and hands-on engineering education.

“This brave new space is going to serve as part of a bold, advanced innovation corridor for VCU’s College of Engineering,” said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. “It’s a great place where diverse talents will meet with the common goal of advancing humanity through practical, state-of-the-art, compassionate solutions to important problems. It’s a place where the future will be invented.”

The building features specialized workspaces including, most notably, the Innovation Maker Facility. The makerspace is supported by a donation from Altria and is equipped with resources for hands-on prototyping and creative, experiential learning.

STEM Building

The new 168,000-square-foot STEM building, located at the site of VCU’s former Franklin Street Gym, began to take shape in March 2021 when the first steel beams were erected. The building will expand existing lab space, facilitate innovative and flexible teaching methods, provide students with instructional and study spaces, and free up space in other College of Humanities and Sciences buildings.

“Not only will this building provide much needed classroom and study space, but it will also feature laboratories where our students can get hands-on experience, putting the knowledge they receive in the classroom into practice,” said Jennifer Malat, Ph.D., dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences. “The new STEM building is essential to ensuring that our students become the next leaders in science, math, health care and technology fields.”

The STEM building will feature 34 teaching labs; the Math Exchange, an innovative facility for math instruction; a Science Learning Center; two large-capacity classrooms; computer labs; and large- and small-capacity flexible classrooms. It will feature instructional wet and dry labs and classrooms for teaching STEM subjects. It is slated to open by spring 2023.

Arts and Innovation Academic Building

A proposed Arts and Innovation Academic Building will bring together VCU’s prominent arts and innovation programs under one roof, creating a dynamic space where students can learn to harness their abilities and prepare for a world of new and emerging industries. The new facility will help strengthen partnerships across arts, business, humanities and sciences, medicine and engineering.

Located at the corner of Broad and Belvidere streets, the new building is steps away from the Institute for Contemporary Art, Fortune 500 companies, and local startups. It will serve as a hub for critical digital and creative economy initiatives, and further solidify VCU’s role as an anchor for Richmond’s vibrant Arts District.

VCU has requested funding from the state for the project. In November 2021, members of the Appropriations Committee in Virginia’s House of Delegates visited the site of the proposed building and learned about what it would bring to VCU, Richmond and Virginia.