ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Sven Shockey, FAIA joins Evan and Cormac to talk about Virginia Tech Academic Building One — a 300,000-square-foot computer science and computer engineering building on a new campus in Alexandria, Virginia whose faceted, photovoltaic-integrated form was derived through 1,400 computational iterations. They explore what it means to design a building's exterior before the interior program is finalized, how three distinct types of building-integrated photovoltaics get assigned to 17 different facades based on orientation and performance data, and what a sewage wastewater energy exchange system has to do with a tunnel under a parking lot.
This episode is especially relevant for design architects and architecture students who want to understand how computational tools actually interact with design judgment — and for anyone who's ever wondered what it looks and feels like to sit inside a building where the facade is doing real work. The shadows move. The light is soft. The algorithm found a non-intuitive answer, and then the real design work began.
Episode LinksGuest
SmithGroup
Virginia Tech Academic Building One
- Project page — SmithGroup
- Virginia Tech Innovation Campus
- First building nears completion — Virginia Tech News
- Alumnus plays large role in designing the campus — Virginia Tech News
- Virginia Tech's Striking New Building Pays Homage to the Sun — Interior Design
- Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Academic 1 Building — Architect Magazine
- A Window to the Future — Inform Magazine
- Design centers on sustainability & connectivity — SmithGroup (2020)
- First building nears completion — SmithGroup (2024)
Awards
Context: Virginia Tech & Amazon HQ2
Related Work: DC Water Headquarters
- DC Water Headquarters — SmithGroup
- Putting Wastewater to Work — SmithGroup Perspectives
- DC Water HQ earns LEED Platinum — DC Water SmithGroup
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