Tennessee Tech University Ashraf Islam Engineering Building

Project Statement

The Ashraf Islam Engineering Building at Tennessee Tech University was conceived as the academic heart of the College of Engineering - designed to showcase every department within the college and serve as a powerful teaching, recruiting, and marketing tool. At 102,000 square feet, this state-of-the-art facility supports interdisciplinary collaboration, hands-on learning, and student engagement from day one through graduation.

The building includes an array of extensive laboratories, flexible instructional spaces, and active learning environments tailored to modern pedagogical practices. These labs were designed in close collaboration with faculty and a specialized research design consultant to ensure they support both current curriculum needs and future research demands. All engineering students begin their academic journey in this facility, which serves as a common foundation before they transition into specialized project laboratories across campus. A key design goal was to use both the building and the site as instructional tools. Exposed structural and mechanical systems, interactive elements, and visible engineering technologies throughout the facility turn the building itself into a living laboratory, supporting student learning beyond the classroom. Numerous formal and informal spaces for collaboration are integrated throughout, including a prominent three-story atrium that serves as a central gathering and event space. Breakout areas and open lounges throughout the building encourage team-based learning and cross-disciplinary interaction.

Architecturally, the building complements the Georgian vernacular of the TTU campus while abstracting traditional elements into a contemporary expression of engineering and innovation. The design features a formal main entry, vertical circulation towers, and high-performance materials such as electrochromic glass, architectural composite metal panels, dynamic interior glazing, and daylight-responsive lighting controls. These elements not only express the building’s function but also reinforce the College of Engineering’s identity as a forward-thinking academic leader.

Design for Water This project integrates stormwater management, campus resilience, and academic opportunity into a single purposeful strategy.

- **Efficient and Appropriate Use - **A new detention lake is a campus amenity that captures and manages runoff from the entire College of Engineering quadrangle. By slowing and filtering stormwater before it flows downstream, the system ensures water is used wisely, improves quality, and supports learning.
- **Resilience and Reliability - **The stormwater system is designed to remain functional during heavy rainfall events, reducing the risk of flooding and providing resilience for both the site and the larger campus.
- **Responsible Management - **Transforming a wet-weather conveyance into a retention pond allows the project to hold, delay, and treat stormwater responsibly, reducing erosion and peak flow impacts while benefiting the broader watershed.
- **Educational and Ecological Benefits - **The lake serves as an outdoor classroom where students study water quality, security, and aquatic biodiversity to better protect, manage, and utilize water resources from the Upper Cumberland’s well water to global systems. In this way, infrastructure functions as both an ecological asset and an academic resource   Design for Economy & Equitable Communities
- Multi-functional Atrium - Designed to serve not just engineering students, but the full breadth of Tennessee Tech’s campus community as well as the city of Cookeville, the building’s three-story Atrium functions as the social and civic core of the building and provides the university with a large, multi-functional dynamic space that previously was unavailable to the campus. The Atrium is not only an amenity for those pursuing an engineering degree, but is a civic room designed to lower barriers, invite participation, and reflect the full diversity of the community Tennessee Tech serves. Just last year the Atrium hosted CityScape’s 28th Annual Taste of the Town, The Friends of the Library Gala, a statewide AI Innovation Conference, a Nuclear For All Career Expo open to all majors, a Construction Fair, and TTU’s Engineering Our World Fab Fridays bringing STEM activities to students in grades 3 through 8. The building is also available to local non-profits and municipal organizations through a rental program, ensuring that public investment in this facility translates into genuine public access.
- **Accessibility was a Deliberate Design Priority **- Integrated ramp systems and level transitions connect the main building floor to the Atrium, which itself opens directly onto an exterior patio at grade, extending the usable space outdoors and inviting the broader campus and community in.

Design for Discovery This facility embodies discovery through collaboration, transparency, and inspiration.

- **Collaboration and Long-Term Relationships - **Faculty, administration, and research consultants were deeply engaged in the design process, ensuring that instructional spaces and labs were carefully tailored to current curriculum and adaptable for future needs.
- **Transparency and Performance - **The building is a teaching tool with exposed systems, visible labs, and interactive elements. Students and faculty can directly observe how the building and the laboratory spaces within perform, promoting shared learning from both successes and challenges.
- **Inspiration and Delight - **Engineering is placed on display throughout the building—automotive, manufacturing, electronics, mechanical hydraulics, chemical, cyber security, and virtual/augmented reality labs are all represented. Signature spaces, including Baja and Formula competition labs, highlight creativity, while the atrium and informal gathering areas encourage collaboration and spontaneous discovery.
- Educational and Ecological Benefits - Engineering is placed on display throughout the building: automotive, manufacturing, electronics, mechanical hydraulics, chemical, cyber security, and virtual/augmented reality labs are all represented. Signature spaces, including Baja and Formula competition labs, highlight creativity, while the atrium and informal gathering areas encourage collaboration and spontaneous discovery.

Design for Integration At Tennessee Tech University, the Ashraf Islam Engineering Building integrates mission, identity, and innovation into a transformative whole.

- **Purpose - **Conceived as the academic heart of the College of Engineering, the building represents all disciplines and establishes a shared foundation for every student.
- **Connection - **Light-filled atriums, transparent labs, and views to the quadrangle and retention lake connect people to both the work of engineering and the campus landscape.
- **Legacy - **As the centerpiece of the college, the building reflects TTU’s commitment to engineering education and serves as a landmark at the emerging campus entry, offering a bold and welcoming statement.
- **Value - **Flexible labs, adaptable spaces, and sustainable design strategies deliver long-term social, economic, educational, structural and environmental benefits.

Design for Change

- **Adaptability **- An understanding that engineering education constantly evolves was critical to the design of the Ashraf Islam Engineering Building. Laboratory environments throughout the building were developed through a sustained, phase-by-phase collaboration with the College of Engineering faculty, ensuring that each space met current instructional and research needs while remaining adaptable over time. Utilities were sized with the same long-term thinking: electrical panels were specified with capacity beyond current loads, and gas and compressed air systems were sized in anticipation of future equipment and use cases not yet defined at the time of design. These decisions reduce the economic risk of obsolescence and extend the functional life of the building as curriculum, research priorities, and industry demands evolve.
- **Smart Building Technologies **- The integration of smart structural monitoring technologies (pictured bottom left) further enhances the functionality of the building, allowing the building to become a part of the educational fabric of the college. Strain gauge sensors installed on columns and beams continuously monitor load and stress in real time, while seismic monitoring systems installed in the foundations and accelerometers in the third-floor composite slab capture motion data both at grade and in the elevated structure above. Beyond their educational value, these systems provide ongoing structural performance data that informs long-term stewardship of the building, supporting informed maintenance decisions and early detection of potential vulnerabilities.
- Academic Value - Since opening, the building’s instrumentation has supported one PhD dissertation, two master’s theses, and seven conference presentations across domestic and international venues, with research spanning vibration analysis, gait studies, and impact localization. The building does not simply respond to today’s needs. It is structured to grow in value, generate knowledge, and adapt to demands that cannot yet be fully anticipated.