Texas A&M University has opened an 85,355-square-foot facility to advance research and teaching on nutrition, food insecurity, precision nutrition and responsive agriculture.
The university says the Norman E. Borlaug Building on the College Station campus is a redesign and renovation of the former Norman E. Borlaug Center for Southern Crop Improvement.
The project honors the legacy of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, who was a Distinguished Professor of International Agriculture at the university and is often called the “Father of the Green Revolution.”
The building will house the Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture and the College of Agriculture and Life Science Department of Nutrition. The work being done at the facility will advance research in precision nutrition, responsive agriculture and ways to reduce diet-related chronic disease.
The facility provides office space as well as cutting-edge laboratories designed for research under conditions classified as Biological Safety Level 2. Some laboratories have an open-concept design for flexibility, depending on the research, and all labs use daylighting techniques and LED lighting to reduce energy use.
The building’s main architectural feature, the rotunda, was expanded into a two-story space from a pre-existing single-story library area. The rotunda has a two-story all-glass feature with a wood ceiling design that reflects Borlaug’s many contributions, as well as terrazzo floors and an accent wall made of cut stone.
The architect is Page Southerland Page, and the construction manager is Bartlett Cocke General Contractors.
