Virginia Tech’s Striking New Building Pays Homage To The Sun
2025 Best of Year Winner for Larger Higher Education + Shining Moment
Advanced CAD techniques shaped the 11-story, 300,000-square-foot Virginia Tech Academic Building One’s dazzlingly multifaceted form, which, guided by heliomorphic principles, aligns with the sun’s path—crucial given that the project by SmithGroup is among the nation’s first to use building-integrated photovoltaic technology, with PV embedded in the insulated glass facade. The exterior glazing creates a dappled sunlight effect and casts dynamic patterns in the human-centric interior, which hosts about 950 students in a collaborative learning environment that includes 14 classrooms and 32 huddle rooms for maximum student-faculty engagement. Cutting-edge facilities encompass a cyber-physical lab, a two-story drone-testing cage, a dedicated space for K–12 initiatives, and the Northern Virginia home of the Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics—together with a 300-seat auditorium off the double-height lobby.
See Interior Design’s Best of Year Winners and Honorees
Explore must-see projects and innovative products that took home high honors.
PROJECT TEAM
PROJECT TEAM
DAVID JOHNSON; KEVIN JOHNSON; SVEN SHOCKEY; PETER HE; PATTY BOYLE; PATRICIA HALABY; DENNIS DAISEY.
read more
Projects
Danish Design Pillars Shine In This Stylish Restaurant And Lounge
For Locke Copenhagen, A-nrd conceived the public spaces based on three pillars of Danish design: simplicity of form, love of nature, and the idea of home.
Projects
This Eatery’s Interiors Nod To Swedish Pastry Spices
Znamy Się designs Dala Restaurang, a 1,600-square-foot Swedish eatery in Kraków’s trendy Kazimierz neighborhood, with a palette to match its treats.
Projects
A Two-Tone Palette Defines This Lyrical Restaurant In Dubai
Verhaal creates a strong narrative for Other, a lyrical 3,300-square-foot restaurant in Dubai with a saturated and surprising two-tone palette.