University of Kansas - Earth, Energy & Environment Center

Transparency of programs and processes bridge higher education research and industry partners, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement.

The Earth, Energy and Environment Center (EEEC) at the University of Kansas is the first venue for this Tier 1 research institution with engagement of local and national business partners as its primary mission. This new home for geoscience and petroleum engineering creates a central point for all energy and environment research and learning on campus. Strategically located adjacent to key collaborating institutions and programs, EEEC facilitates interdisciplinary partnerships and provides a hub for industry outreach, 3D visualization, and active-learning classroom resources.

Located at the convergence of the community and campus grids, the facility responds to each by breaking the mass into two buildings, each relating to its immediate context—learning spaces aligned with academic context and industry outreach and research aligned with community context. The building's massing is further reduced by using the site’s significant grade change to push programs below grade, helping to relate building massing to the scale of the surrounding historic campus context. Walkways connect the two buildings of EEEC to each other and to the adjacent engineering and geology buildings, promoting interdisciplinary connectivity and collaboration within the classroom, labs, and social areas of the building.

A series of ‘floating’ glass boxes provide meeting space that is engaged from multiple dimensions, creating overlap of student, faculty, and professional communities. This unique, yet deliberate, overlap and transparency of programs continually connects academia to industry and real-world experiences.

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Interior transparencies put learning on display, prioritizing daylighting and connections to the building’s research laboratories. This transparency of programs creates a valuable view into the research, processes, and resources that are propelling innovation linked directly to industry and our economy, further eliciting inquiry and knowledge of the programs and partnerships supporting the University’s research mission.

As a venue for partnerships between private industry and higher education research, a catalyst for interdisciplinary research and learning, and a building-as-teaching-tool for geologic studies, the new Earth, Energy and Environment Center at the University of Kansas provides a unique focal point at the center of a historic main campus.