New Carnegie Mellon campus

I've been watching the building go up for the last year, so it will be exciting to go in and have a look.

A monumental campus in the making
Web posted at: 9/12/2008 3:43:11
Source ::: The Peninsula

The sunlight-flooded atrium. RIGHT: The external construction work of the building in progress.

DOHA • The new campus of Carngie Mellon University in Qatar (CMUQ) will be an architectural wonder once complete, but even now the partially complete infrastructure is salubrious for its students and faculty.

"It is visually and functionally a spectacular building," said Charles E Chuck Thorpe, the Dean of the University, yesterday while speaking to the media during an orientation visit. "Structurally, the building has every thing that the university strives to create. The warm and inviting spaces throughout the building will foster the growth of the whole university," he told The Peninsula.

Flanked by Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) and Texas A&M University (TAMU) on both sides, the Carngie Mellon University in Qatar (CMUQ) is moving fast towards its official opening shortly.

The university had moved into its new building at the beginning of the new semester. The construction is now in its final phase at Education City. The ground-breaking of the university's new building was held on May 17, 2006 and the grand opening will take place on February 22, 2009.

The expansive 42,000 square metres teaching and learning infrastructure will have three floors. For the next few years Carnegie Mellon will occupy the ground and first floors. Shortly, Northwestern University will make temporary quarters on the second floor.

Following the home campus's tradition as centre for cultural and social convergence, the Qatar campus has expansive vacant areas which serve multiple purposes. Designed by renowned Mexican architects Legoretta and Legoretta, the building has at its core an open three-storey atrium. The glass roofing of the atrium floods the hall with filtered sun light giving a natural ambience to the surrounding. The atrium will be home to food court, assembly area and an expansive walkway that can handle 400 people at a time. Situated on the main east-west passage through Education City, the walkway will be punctuated with trees and will serve as a meeting place for everyone in Education City.

"The walk-way through the building goes all the way to other education centres in the city. People walking around campus can go through CMUQ. This will make the university a centre of activity or a link hub. This interaction will foster a greater sense of community and collaboration between everyone in Education City," said Thorpe. With a Subway sandwich shop, Coffee Cottage and juice bar in the spacious atrium, it's sure to be the hub of campus.

The state-of-the-art feature is combined with a robust palate of colours, water features and trees. There are art walls decorated in coloured stones and glass works for ambience

Apart from this the Qatar campus has been setting an example for the home campus at Pittsburg. "Many of our innovative ideas were taken in by the Pittsburg campus."

The students are given state-of-the-art facilities to make their life at the campus full with experience. "We have board room for the business studies students to get the feel of being at work and many leading business men are mobbed into being the President at the Board Room Meetings. The faculty here is motivated and use innovative teaching ideas. Totally we are striving to be a center of learning," he said.

The students and the teachers are motivated to do researches and some of the students have gained recognition even in the home campus.