The University of Wisconsin-Madison has selected Milwaukee-based Findorff to construct the $420-milllion Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center on its campus. The architecture and engineering team also includes Milwaukee-based Continuum Architects + Planners, working with Detroit-based architect SmithGroup and Brookfield, Wis.-based MEPT consultants Ring & DeChateau.

A groundbreaking was held in April for the 395,000-sq-ft center, which is expected to enable the university to increase admission of engineering students by 1,000 a year and address employers’ high demand for engineers. 

The planned seven-story engineering center—planned to have equal space for both learning and research—will be the centerpiece of the seven-building campus. The project is being constructed on a 2.5-acre site encompassing parts of the existing Engineering Mall and space currently occupied by the 1410 Engineering Drive building, an 85-year-old building that is being demolished to make way for green space and outdoor gathering spaces. 

The new building’s learning wing will feature mass timber construction and a green roof to manage stormwater and mitigate the urban heat island effect, the university notes. 

The project marks the third time the university has constructed a new engineering academic building over the last six decades to meet demand, according to the university, which says it currently only has space to educate about a tenth of all applicants.

The new building will allow “us to educate about 1,000 additional undergraduates in engineering at a time when Wisconsin employers urgently need more engineers,” said UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin in a news release. 

Todd Brakob, Findorff’s senior superintendent for the project, said the project will pose some construction challenges. 

“The Philip Levy Engineering Center is on an extremely tight site with unique project aspects that require advanced coordination and planning,” he said.

Brakob added that the building’s truss “is a visually engaging component that also serves as an engineering solution to build usable square footage over the top of required utility tunnels. Findorff has been working closely with the structural engineer and other team members to determine the installation sequence and any constraints, both of which will influence the design.”

The College of Engineering will raise $150 million for the project through philanthropy, the university will provide $43.4 million, and the state of Wisconsin will kick in the remaining $226.4 million.

Phillip Levy’s brothers, Marvin and Jeffrey Levy, donated $75 million—the largest single gift in the university’s history—for the building that will be named in honor of their brother who graduated from the university in 1964 as an English major. He founded and operated Phillip Levy Fine Furniture and Interior Design in Madison for more than 30 years.  

The path toward realizing the building’s construction has been long and perilous. Milwaukee Public Radio reports that in 2023 the state’s Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee rejected allowing public funds for the building, releasing them only after the university’s Board of Regents agreed to cease diversity, equity and inclusion staffing through 2026 and eliminate or re-frame 40 positions focused on diversity.