Carnegie Mellon Breaks Ground on Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences

Carnegie Mellon University broke ground in early 2024 on the $252 million Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences in Pittsburgh. Designed by ZGF Architects and R3A Architecture, the 338,900-sf complex will advance a new era of data-driven research, cross-disciplinary education, and creative expression. The transformative development will collocate the College of Science and the School of Computer Science with the Institute for Contemporary Art Pittsburgh in a prominent city intersection to foster connections with the local community. Featuring a large public plaza and restaurant, the facility will accommodate the departments of biological sciences, chemistry, computational biology, and machine learning, as well as housing the Neuroscience Institute and the Language Technologies Institute. A seven-story tower will contain wet and dry research labs, teaching labs, collaboration spaces, instructional venues, and offices, as well as an underground parking garage with 130 spaces.

Integrating advanced systems for heat recovery and stormwater management, the highly flexible structure is slated to achieve LEED Gold sustainable design certification. Brightspot Strategy provided visioning, engagement, and space programming and planning services for the building, which will offer 400 new classroom seats and additional shell space for future expansion. 

The project team includes Research Facilities Design (RFD) as laboratory design consultant, Affiliated Engineers as MEP engineer, and Langan Engineering as civil engineer. The Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences is being constructed by a joint venture of PJ Dick and Mascaro with occupancy anticipated in fall of 2027.

Learn more about the Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences with Tradeline's in-depth report.