The Ferland EDDC (Engineering Education Design Center) building has finally opened at the University of Maine, after approximately two years of construction. Recently, a ribbon cutting and open house event were hosted for the new US$ 78M facility. Thus, the 3-story building was packed with over 500 people from across the state who came to celebrate UMaine’s largest project.
The Ferland EDDC building’s construction has received various forms of support from UMaine alumni, donors, and the state as well. From the project’s inception in April 2020, until its virtual topping-off in February 2021 alumni have worked on it. Furthermore, the state of Maine supported the project with an investment of over $50 million. While the rest of the funding came from more than 500 donors.
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Ferland EDDC building features and amenities
Learning amenities featured at the Ferland EDDC building include 44 student workspaces, comprising shops for biomedical engineering, electronics, and 3D printing. Several other shops will also be available such as the vehicles, metals, wood, and composites. On top of that, the building also houses the Campus Welcome and STEM Outreach Center. This part of the building will be used for orientations and serve as a starting point for campus tours. It features five collaborative classrooms which will be accessible to the entire campus.
The 115,000-square-foot Ferland EDDC building was developed with the aim of increasing the University’s engineering enrollment by a third. Therefore this implies that new spaces will be available for 600 more students in the engineering department. Additionally, the new building will be home to mostly the Mechanical and Biomedical engineering department programs. This also includes teaching labs that will be used by the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department.
UMaine’s President, Joan Ferrini-Mundi, described Ferland EDDC as a state-of-the-art center, designed to produce the best professionals in engineering fields. He mentioned that it was time for the University to grow its economy and become more competitive in the world.
The development team for the Ferland EDDC building project involves WBRC Architects Engineers and Ellenzweig as the designer. Meanwhile, the construction was led by Consigli Construction of Milford, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine.
