Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery at UW-Madison

The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery located in the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is a unique public/private initiative designed to facilitate interdisciplinary research. The two institutes share an atrium and other public spaces. The facility is LEED® Gold certified and is the first research facility on campus with a geothermal heating and cooling system to provide savings on energy use.

GRAEF provided structural and site/civil engineering, landscape architecture and environmental site assessment for this $180 million project. Together the buildings contain 300,000 square feet of research space, wet and dry laboratories, research support areas and offices. A special vibration study was conducted to optimize the floor design to minimize vibration effects from foot traffic and ground-borne vibration effects on laboratory equipment performance.

Awards: Best in Show Top Projects Award – The Daily Reporter/Wisconsin Builder Magazine; 2011 Commercial Design Project of the Year – In Business Magazine; 2012 Laboratory of the Year – R&D Magazine