On behalf of the University and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Ballinger programmed and designed one of the nation’s finest interdisciplinary research institutes.

The 300,000 SF first phase, located in the geographic center of the sciences “precinct” in Madison, supports research ranging from engineering to computer sciences to biology. Only those faculty researchers whose proposals support the institute’s mission of interdisciplinary collaboration are housed here. The “public” institute focuses on federally-funded team-based research, while the “private” side makes room for commercialization, partnerships with industry and venture capitalists, an entrepreneurship clinic and an education and outreach center. Laboratories are designed for highly specialized functions demanding vibration isolation, electro-magnetic interference management, high-bay prototyping and heavy loading.

Surrounded by heavily traveled streets, the design concept takes a conventional building with an internalized atrium concept and inverts it – essentially placing the building inside a wintergarden, creating a true town center that attracts people from the broader campus community.

This project was awarded the 2012 Lab of the Year by R&D Magazine. The project also achieved LEED Gold certification for innovative features such as its geothermal heating system, solar-powered water heating, and extensive use of natural light in such a large facility. As a result, it received the 2012 Innovation in Green Building Award from AASHE/USGBC.