Virginia Tech Academic Building One

Address: 3625 Potomac Ave., Alexandria

Project Type: Public

Project Size: 300,000 square feet; 11 stories

Project Cost: $310 million

Owner: Virginia Tech

Contractor: Whiting-Turner

Architect/Engineer: SmithGroup

When Virginia successfully competed to land Amazon.com’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters in 2018, the state’s winning bid included a commitment to produce the talent the region would need to sustain its new identity as a national tech hub. Academic Building One is where that commitment takes physical form — an 11-story, 300,000-square-foot graduate facility in Alexandria that anchors Virginia Tech’s presence in the Washington, D.C., metro area and the $1.1 billion Tech Talent Investment Program that made it possible.

The building’s form was not arrived at intuitively. SmithGroup used advanced computational design techniques to evaluate more than 1,400 options before arriving at Academic Building One’s distinctive faceted geometry — a shape engineered as much for performance as for its appearance. The building is among the first in the United States to embed photovoltaic panels directly into the outer layer of insulated glass, with additional photovoltaic fins on the south facade and a rooftop photovoltaic trellis combining to generate on-site energy. Terracotta fins on the east and west facades provide passive shading, while a rainwater harvesting system helps conserve resources. The project is targeting LEED Platinum certification.

Constructed by Whiting-Turner, the building opened to students in January 2025. A public ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb. 28, 2025, drew then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. “Virginia Tech now has an open front door in the heart of this region’s innovation economy,” Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said at the time.

Academic Building One houses graduate programs in computer science, computer engineering and business, with research focused on artificial intelligence, quantum information science and next-generation wireless technology. The building also supports K-12 and workforce development initiatives, veteran and military family services, and library resources. It sits on 3.5 acres in North Potomac Yard, adjacent to the Potomac Yard-VT Metro Station, and is part of a larger 19-acre district being developed by JBG Smith and the City of Alexandria. More than 500 graduate students are already taking courses there, with two more academic buildings planned at Virginia Tech’s expanding Northern Virginia campus.