Rice University dedicated the $44.5 million Brockman Hall for Physics in March of 2011. Construction began on the 111,000-sf facility in fall of 2009. The project was supported by $11 million in stimulus funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The four-story building houses advanced laboratories for experimental, theoretical, and applied physics. Brockman Hall includes underground research suites with minimal vibration and noise to accommodate investigation in biophysics; condensed matter physics; nanoengineering; photonics; and atomic, molecular, and optical physics. The facility houses 16 physics labs, six engineering physics labs, faculty and graduate offices, conference rooms, and a lecture hall.
The project team includes design architect KieranTimberlake Associates of Philadelphia with predesign services provided by Perkins + Will of San Diego and FKP Architects of Houston. The construction manager was Gilbane Building Company. LEED Gold sustainable design certification will be sought for the project, which features an energy recovery system and a dehumidification system.
