BAC - Design and Innovation Building

The Building Advisory Committee (BAC) advises the administration on the planning and design of the proposed Design and Innovation Building. In this role, the BAC will review and make recommendations about the program and design within the project's time and budgetary constraints.


This project would entail construction of approximately 40,000 assignable square feet of new space for multidisciplinary instruction and research in design, innovation and entrepreneurism, multidisciplinary research space, and retail. The potential program components will define "anchor" activities that create the basis for the details of these activities and space requirements. The building will be an extension of the existing Structural Materials Engineering (SME) building located south of Voigt Drive and west of the Warren Recreation Fields. As such, it will be an important first impression of the campus for arriving light rail passengers at the future Pepper Canyon Light Rail Transit (LRT) station. The LRT project is currently under construction with a planned completion in 2021.


The initial estimated total project budget is approximately $50 million. The campus intends to implement this project through a Construction Manager/Contractor (CM/GC) delivery method. The anticipated project completion is Summer 2021.


  • Tara Cameron, Director, Space Planning, Academic Affairs
  • Jeffrey Graham, Executive Director, Real Estate
  • William Hodgkiss, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, BAC Chair
  • Jan Kleissel, Committee on Campus/Community Environment, Faculty Representative
  • Scott Klemmer, Associate Professor, Cognitive Science
  • Christina Mannion, Project Manager, Facilities Design and Construction Donald Norman, Professor Emeritus, Cognitive Science
  • Kevin Norris, Associate Engineer, Facilities Management
  • Kaiser Pister, Undergraduate Student Representative, Computer Science and Engineering
  • Paul Roben, Associate Vice Chancellor, Innovation and Commercialization
  • Elyse Sanchez, Associate Planner, Physical and Community Planning
  • Stephanie Sherman, Graduate Student Representative, Visual Arts
  • Cristiana Winter, Assistant Director, Capital Planning