With its recent groundbreaking, construction on the UI Labs Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) has officially begun. The SOM-designed DMDII, located on Chicago’s Goose Island, will be home to the city’s most state-of-the-art digital manufacturing hub.
The 94,000 square-foot building is organized around themes of openness, transparency, and industrial might, linking together a manufacturing floor, classrooms, a lecture hall, and flexible work spaces to foster collaboration and spur innovation.
So far, more than 40 leading manufacturing and technology companies and 30 university, government, and community partners have signed on as initiative partners. The DMDII will also serve as the new headquarters for UI Labs. Completion is anticipated for early 2015.
About Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is one of the leading architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban planning firms in the world, with a 75-year reputation for design excellence and a portfolio that includes some of the most important architectural accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since its inception, SOM has been a leader in the research and development of specialized technologies, new processes and innovative ideas, many of which have had a palpable and lasting impact on the design profession and the physical environment. The firm’s longstanding leadership in design and building technology has been honored with more than 1,700 awards for quality, innovation, and management. The American Institute of Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor, the Architecture Firm Award — in 1962 and again in 1996. The firm maintains offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi.