Tall & Urban News

The newly completed 93-meter-tall Center for Computing & Data Sciences at Boston University (BU) is a new addition to the Boston area skyline. The US$305 million building is the result of a competition held in 2012 in which architecture firm KPMB of Toronto won the commission. The design was unveiled in 2018, and became locally known as the “stack-of-books building” based on its massing. Structural engineering firms Entuitive and LeMessurier also worked on the project. 

Entering through two main entrances off Commonwealth Avenue, the central atrium is conceived as a continuation of the avenue, and has a large café visible from the street. At the atrium’s heart is a series of ramps and stairways designed to encourage collaboration and student/faculty interaction. A large black steel ramp that becomes a stairway is also structural. 

The center was designed to LEED Platinum standards and has 31 underground geothermal wells that will provide 90 percent of the heating and cooling in the building. Its eight outdoor terraces are each a green roof to minimize the heat island effect and introduce a bit of nature into a dense urban setting. BU is installing solar arrays on nearby buildings that will generate about 1.2 million kWh of electricity a year for the center, representing over 23 percent of the building’s electricity needs.

The building will open officially to students in January 2023.

Read more at The Architect's Newspaper.