Friday, April 10, 2015, a landmark day for two departments and two colleges at Ohio State — The College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the College of Engineering’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Federal, state and university leadership will join students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and friends to celebrate the Grand Opening of CBEC: the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry Building.

CBEC, Ohio State’s only LEED-certified research facility, at 151 W. Woodruff, in the heart of the science and engineering community, is the culmination of more than 15 years of careful thought, strategic planning and lots of difficult, meticulous work.

It shows. This is not just another research facility; it was designed specifically to change the ways we do research.

From the outside in and the inside out, CBEC’s novel design of openness, transparency and connectivity provides a welcoming environment that facilitates conversation, interaction and innovation. 

CBEC’s design to advance interdisciplinary collaborations in a shared setting may be unique among the nation’s leading research institutions.  

Certainly, the unprecedented partnership between Arts and Sciences and Engineering is a visionary leap forward. 

From the expansiveness of the basement laboratory wing to the lobby with its amazing wave wall and LED installation by renowned artist Leo Villareal — to the Dow Student Lounge on the 6th floor with its sweeping view from campus to downtown — it is clear that CBEC is not an ordinary research building.

These visually stunning and inviting spaces are not only equipped to jump-start research teams, the laboratories were specially-built to accommodate the latest instrumentation required for today’s leading-edge research and to be a true catalyst for discovery in the 21st Century. 

They also were designed to minimize energy-waste and avoid negative environmental impacts — particularly difficult for a massive laboratory building to successfully achieve. But everything about CBEC shows the attention paid to the details of making this so.

This investment in innovation promises to pay off, by: 

• Expanding real-world learning opportunities for students 
• Growing new generations of inspired thinkers, problem-solvers and research leaders   
• Attracting exceptional faculty, graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers from around the country
• Fueling Ohio’s economy through partnerships with industry
• Putting Ohio State in the vanguard as a 21st century leader in innovation 

Step inside CBEC. 

Welcome to a new world of research possibilities.

CBEC’s Nuts & Bolts

• 237, 830 gross sq. ft.
• 132,828 assignable square feet
• 14 Research Neighborhoods @ 5,200 gross sq. ft., each
• Laboratory space w/appropriate height ratios, structural dimensions and environmental stability provides flexibility and supports intensive research 
• Total project budget: $126 million 
• Planning began: 2000
• Ground broken: 2012 
• Project came in on-time/on-budget: late 2014 
• Adopts sustainable design practices by Labs 21, in addition to LEED Silver minimum
• Two powerhouse departments. Two colleges. One structure optimized for collaborative impact. From future-focused biomedical innovations to energy-efficient materials research, some of the world’s most significant problems will be solved here. Its potential impact is enormous.