AUBURN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION DEDICATES NEW BUILDING

AUBURN - Auburn University’s Department of Building Science will get a new home as AU and the College of Architecture, Design & Construction dedicate the M. Miller Gorrie Center this Friday at 11 a.m.

“The growth of the curriculum and the demand for graduates drove the need for this new facility, and it promises to produce outstanding results in the areas of teaching, research and outreach,” said CADC Dean Dan Bennett.

“The M. Miller Gorrie Center stands as a testament to the commitment and dedication of the construction industry, the university, alumni and friends of the college and our Department of Building Science,” said Bennett. “We could not be more pleased to celebrate its opening.”

Named for 1957 AU graduate M. Miller Gorrie, the 33,000 square-foot facility features state-of-the-art distance education capability and computer technology as applied to the construction industry.

The Gorrie Center is the first building on the AU campus certified as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building. LEED certification is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable - or green - buildings.

The Center will include a demonstration laboratory and classrooms specifically designed to suit the program’s delivery methods. For example, the exposed building components will make the bulding a “living classroom” and expand opportunities for students to relate to how buildings are constructed.

Gorrie is chairman and CEO of Brasfield & Gorrie Construction Company in Birmingham. In 1967, after purchasing the construction assets of Thomas C. Brasfield’s Birmingham construction company, he founded Brasfield & Gorrie, which in 2001 had annual revenues near $1 billion and 2,000 employees servicing clients in 15 states.

Architects for the center are CMH Architects, Inc., of Birmingham. Brasfield & Gorrie resides as project manager.

The Department of Building Science is housed in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction. The components of the CADC are annually regarded and ranked among the best in their respective disciplines nationally for the quality of education and quality of students.

Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with more than 23,500 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 40 public universities nationally, Auburn offers more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

(Contributed by Robert Grant.)

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