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.
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Projects
A Malibu Home Built To Withstand The Heat—Literally
Founders of Santa Monica-based Minarc create a 6,235-square-foot Malibu house with fire-retardant materials and systems.
Projects
This Skate Park In China Offers More Than Concrete Ramps
Athletes, spectators, and pet lovers can shop, shred, dine, and walk the dog at Avenue & Son Skatepark North Coast, a multipurpose facility in Qinhuangdao, China, by Various Associates.
Projects
Inside A Tropical Brutalist Home In Brisbane, Australia
How a tropical brutalist home in Brisbane’s New Farm dissolves the boundaries between architecture, landscape, and family life.