Square 55/Science & Engineering Hall

Square 55 is located between 22nd, 23rd, H and I Streets, N.W. and redevelopment of this site for academic purposes was approved by the DC Zoning Commission as part of GW's 2007 Foggy Bottom Campus Plan. The university completed construction of the state-of-the-art multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching and laboratory building in January 2015.

student reseting in research space in SEH

Gross Floor Area (GFA): 377,036
Floors Below Grade: 6
Floor Above Grade: 8
Max Height: 110ft
LEED Tracking: Gold
Architect: Ballinger Associates
Construction Manager: Clark Construction
Consulting Project Manager: Boston Properties

The building includes functions from the School of Engineering and Applied Science as well as the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences’ physical science departments, including Biological Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, and Hominid Paleobiology. Other aligned researchers will also be located in the new complex. Additionally, some faculty and research staff of the Milken Institute School of Public Health and School of Medicine & Health Sciences will occupy the seventh and eighth floors of the building, respectively.

In 2009, GW’s Board of Trustees authorized expenditures of up to $10 million for planning, design, and cost-estimation for this transformational project. The university completed initial planning stages in early/mid 2010 for this building (including benchmarking and programming efforts to help shape building design), followed by additional architectural and design work. Community outreach during this period included detailed updates at the quarterly GW Community Advisory Committee meetings (required by the 2007 Foggy Bottom Campus Plan) as well as presentations to the Foggy Bottom Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A (October 13, 2010) and several FRIENDS neighborhood meetings.

The University Board of Trustees unanimously approved this project at its fall 2010 meeting. This project was then submitted to the DC Zoning Commission where it received approval for the second stage Planned Unit Development (PUD) review per the conditions of the 2007 Foggy Bottom Campus Plan. Construction commenced in the summer of 2011 and occupancy of the Science and Engineering Hall occurred in January 2015.