NC State’s engineering resources continue to expand as the influx of students coming to the university with an intent to study engineering increases. Fitts-Woolard Hall is the College of Engineering’s newest building located in Centennial Campus, and it is in the midst of construction.
The building’s design was finished in March 2018 and construction began in April. Fitts-Woolard Hall is projected to be completed in June of 2020.
A goal of the building is to encourage interaction between engineering students and faculty. NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson said that one of the things he is most excited about is the theme of Fitts-Woolard Hall: engineering on display.
“One of the unique features of the building is that all the laboratories, the research and teaching going on is going to be visible to people walking through the building,” Woodson said. “It will also be inspiring to everyone that is in the building to see the work that’s going on, whether it’s robots and manufacturing or some of the critical work that they do like advanced 3D printing.”
Lora Bremer, the executive director of major gifts and campaign planning at NC State, described the details of the new features that are included following Fitts-Woolard Hall’s theme.
“All of the walls will be glass walls, so you can look in and see exactly what’s going on in that space,” Bremer said. “They have really added such cool features to the building. There is a section where, from the ground floor all the way through, you’ll be able to see up to the fourth floor.”
Woodson believes that the energy-efficient nature of the building will serve as a role model for students and faculty. According to Woodson, there will be an area next to the hall’s front door that will capture and collect runoff water from the building, recycle it and use it efficiently.
“We wanted the building to reflect the cutting-edge nature of the work that civil and environmental engineers do to create a more sustainable future for not only our campus, but the world,” Woodson said.
Fundraising became a major priority as it became known that the state was only paying for a portion of the building’s construction.
“This is the first time in the history of NC State that anybody has had to raise money to have a building… so this was quite an undertaking,” Bremer said.
Woodson explained how the project was slated to be funded by the state right when the 2010 economic recession began.
“We lost a lot of momentum during that difficult economic period, but when the bond campaign came along… we were able to get half of the funding from the bond and raise the other half privately,” Woodson said. “The state funding was critical. We wouldn’t have been able to raise the money privately unless the state gave us that boost, the 50 percent funding to begin with.”
According to Bremer, the university will still need more funding to complete the building.
“There’s still room for everybody to help,” Bremer said. “Over the past couple of years, we’ve been able to raise more than $47 million. The $25 million gift from Fitts and Woolard was just an incredible dream come true for us, and it has really helped with the fundraising. It encouraged other people to give to the building. So now we have roughly $12.5 million to go, to reach our $60 million goal.”
Woodson also expressed his gratitude for the $25 million donation given by alumni Edward P. Fitts Jr. and Edgar S. Woolard Jr.
“It’s called Fitts-Woolard Hall because those two gentlemen provided a lot of money and a lot of resources to make this happen, and we couldn’t be more grateful,” Woodson said.
According to Woodson, the building will enhance the learning experience of engineering students because of the way it inspires students to learn.
“Space actually does matter, and the functionality of the architecture really enhances learning because it inspires our students to want to get into the labs and learn about structures, engineering and manufacturing,” Woodson said.
There are live webcams surrounding the construction of Fitts-Woolard Hall for those interested in tracking the building’s progress.
“We have so many people who watch that and really enjoy seeing the progress, and it really is making great progress,” Bremer said.
Students who are interested in watching live footage of the construction of Fitts-Woolard Hall can click here.
