Officially opened on May 10, 2012, as a part of University at Buffalo's 2020 Strategic Plan, construction of Barbara and Jack Davis Hall, known as Davis Hall, started in 2009 with ground-breaking and finished in late 2011 with a construction cost of $75 million including nearly $49.6 million from New York State funding and the rest from corporate and individual endowments.[3][5] Besides UB Engineering, Davis Hall is the new host to both Computer Science and Electrical Engineering departments featuring several new laboratories and research centers.[5]

The building is constructed by Turner Construction and its exterior design is a reminiscent to printed circuit board representing interaction among faculties and students and is designed by Perkins and Will firm.[2] The building is constructed in accordance with LEED's Gold certificate standards.[2]

Naming

The building is named after industrialist-turned-political candidate Jack Davis and his wife Barbara, who made the largest endowment ($5 million) among individuals to fund the project.[2] The couple made their first donation of $1.5 million to fund the project in 2008.[3] Jack, a UB Engineering graduate in 1955,[4] and his wife donated an additional $3.5 million to the project making themselves the people who have made the largest endowment in university's history with $5 million endowment.[3]

Tenants

Departments

The building is the new home to Computer Science and Electrical Engineering departments.[2] However, the building supports five other departments such as Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering and Chemical and Biological Engineering.[4]

Labs

Notable features

Facilities and research centers

  • 5,000 sq ft (460 m2) of Cleanroom space[1]
  • Two 3D Electrical Engineering Labs [1]
  • A smart room [1]
  • A surgery lab [1]
  • A multimedia lab [1]
  • A security lab [1]
  • Two visualization labs [1]
  • Eleven flexible, multi-purpose labs [1]
  • Center of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR)[6]
  • Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors (CUBS)[7]

LEED gold certificate

On April 4, 2012 it was announced that the building has been certified "Gold" by LEED.[4] The building exceeds the state's energy efficiency code by 34 percent. Some of its features, making the building green, are as follow:

  • An outdoor plaza that includes water-efficient landscaping and methods to capture stormwater
  • A small green roof
  • Waterless urinals
  • Bicycle racks
  • Constructed with recycled building materials
  • Energy-efficient heating, cooling and ventilation systems

References

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