Morgridge Hall establishes an engine for innovation at the intersection of technology and humanity. Bringing together not only all of UW’s computer and data-science programs, but also the Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, the American Family Insurance Data Science Institute, and the internationally recognized Center for High Throughput Computing, the building enables its diverse stakeholders to collaborate, teach, and discover, and provides a destination for industry partnerships.
In the words of Chancellor Janet Mnookin, “This facility is going to allow us to do something that no other university in the country is doing—bring together three top-ranked departments under one roof and anchor them in a high-tech corridor that links computing to biomedical research to engineering to medicine.”
The architecture creates distinct homes for each of its programs and, at the same time, establishes three key ecosystems which build a breadcrumb trail through the entire facility. At the lowest levels, the Learning Ecosystem welcomes learners, adding hundreds of Active Learning classroom seats. On the second level, the Student Ecosystem features a program that facilitates student wellness, improving inclusivity and access on campus. And on the highest levels, the Research Ecosystem offers thematic hubs and labs that foster cross-disciplinary collaboration while providing for rearrangement as the university’s needs change. “The Heart” atrium brings daylight and visual connections across all levels.
Beyond bespoke individual spaces to serve the needs of the various disciplines, Morgridge Hall facilitates intellectual collisions and new research relationships across all the groups. The Heart is punctuated by collaboration spaces and specialty research hubs to promote interaction and innovation, and to showcase the discoveries happening each day, from experiments in entrepreneurship to robotics. Individual research neighborhoods provide opportunities for student researchers to bond, while thematic hubs and intentional paths of travel nurture bridging relationships across disciplines.
