Lightning-fast
research campus

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

Walter P Moore provided structural engineering services for the academic buildings at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), working in close collaboration with the in-house structural group of HOK. The $10 billion campus is being delivered on a highly accelerated basis, with completion slated for September 2009, just 29 months after design began.

Walter P Moore's efforts included development of structural systems for elegant long-span high roofs connecting several buildings, as well as full design of these buildings: Library, Engineering & Science, Business Data Center, University Center, and The Auditorium. The most notable element is a high-roof over the research facilities, a solar chimney and a Lantern, which is the main campus feature.

KAUST is an international, graduate-level research university dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement in the Kingdom that will also benefit the region and the world. KAUST will be merit-based and will recruit men and women from around the world.

Campus laboratories and research facilities are being created in flexible building shells with interchangeable modules for different laboratory types and the research associated with them, allowing faculty to have the opportunity to customize space unique to their research.

The academic buildings total eight million square feet of space. Special features include two solar chimneys which are 60 meters high; post-tensioned, precast elements that are designed to serve the construction methods used in Saudi Arabia, and striking 20-meter-high cantilevers at the library and the engineering and science building. A 50-meter-high rotunda, utilizing steel pipe elements, is the focal point of the campus.
All elements of the academic buildings are cast-in-place concrete. To aid in the speed of construction, all floors are hollow-core planks with 3-inch concrete topping.

KAUST received LEED Platinum for this campus -- the world's largest LEED Platinum project.

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