WPI starts work on $80M academic building

Photo | Courtesy Worcester Polytechnic Institute has begun construction of a new building between Gordon Library and Boynton Street. Construction starts a year after WPI opened the $49-million Foisie Innovation Studio and Messenger Hall.

Photo | Courtesy Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

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Worcester Polytechnic Institute began work Friday on a new $80-million building next to Gordon Library for new academic, research and student services space.

The 100,000-square-foot building has been designed to allow researchers and educators to work with partners in industry, governments and academia, the school said.

The building, slated to open in January 2022, will include faculty offices and a student services center, with the offices of the registrar, academic advising, disability services, and career development. It will be built by Milford-based Consigli Construction and has been designed by Boston architectural firm Gensler.

The as-yet-unnamed building will replace a parking lot between Gordon Library and Boynton Street. WPI said it would seek LEED certification for the building, a designation by the organization U.S. Green Building Council labeling the building as environmentally friendly.

George and Karen Oliver, both 1982 WPI graduates, gave what the college said was a seven-figure gift for the project. George Oliver is chairman and CEO of Johnson Controls International in Wisconsin and a WPI trustee. Karen Oliver leads the Women’s Impact Network Executive Committee, WPI’s women’s philanthropy group. The Oliver Active Learning Classroom in the Foisie Innovation Studio, which opened last year, was named for the couple.

The George I. Alden Trust, a Worcester organization and one of WPI's top benefactors, pledged a $5-million leadership gift to the facilities component of WPI’s new fundraising campaign if the university raises $20 million from current trustees and alumni by March 31, 2021.